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LIFE  IN  THE  ENGLISH  CHUECH 


One  vol.  8vo.  price  15s.  cloth. 

WILLIAM     LAW, 

NONJUROR    AND    MYSTIC, 
AUTHOR  OP  'A  SERIOUS  CALL  TO  A  DEVOUT  AND  HOLY  LIFE'  &c. 

A  SKETCH   OF  HIS  LIFE,   CHARACTER,   AND   OPINIONS. 
BY  J.  H.  OVERTON,  M.A. 

Vicar  of  Epworth ;  formerly  Scholar  of  Lincoln  College,  Oxford. 


London  :  LONGMANS,  GREEN,  &  CO. 


LIFE 

IN    THE 

ENGLISH    CHURCH 

(1660-1714) 


BY 


J.  H,  OVEBTON,  M.A. 

RECTOR  OF  EPWOKTH  AND  CANON  NOX- RESIDENTIARY  OF  LINCOLN  CATHEDRAL, 

AUTHOR  OP  '  WILLIAM  LAW,  NONJUROR  AND  MYSTIC,' 

JOINT- AUTHOR  OF  '  THE  ENGLISH   CHURCH   IN   THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY,' 
FORMERLY  SCHOLAR  OF  LINCOLN  COLLEGE,  OXFORD. 


Theology  is  rather  a  Divine  Life  than  a  Divine  Knowledge.' 

(Bp.  JEREMY  TAYLOR,  Via-  InteUigentiee.) 


LONDON 
LONGMANS,     GKEEN,    AND    CO. 

1885 

All    rights    reserved 


PIUNTKD    BY 

SrOTTlSWOODE    AND    CO.,    NEW-STHEET    SQUARK 
LOXOOK 


PBEFACE. 


THE  title  of  this  work  tells  its  own  tale.  All  therefore 
that  is  necessary  in  the  way  of  Preface  is  a  grateful 
acknowledgment  of  the  help  and  encouragement  I 
have  received  in  the  execution  of  my  task.  I  am 
indebted  to  Dr.  E.  Garnett,  of  the  British  Museum, 
who  not  only  lent  me  cheerfully  the  aid  he  was 
always  ready  to  accord  to  students,  but  took  the 
pains,  unasked,  to  search  out  MSS.  bearing  on  my 
subject ;  to  the  Eev.  Churchill  Babington,  whose 
name  is  well  known  in  connection  with  the  clergy  of 
the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  who 
kindly  assisted  me  with  his  valuable  advice ;  to  the 
late  Bishop  Christopher  Wordsworth,  whose  letters 
to  me  on  the  subject  are  among  my  most  treasured 
relics  ;  and,  last  but  not  least,  to  my  Wednesday 
evening  Congregation  at  Ep worth  Church,  who  will 
recognise  in  these  pages  much  that  they  have  heard 
from  the  pulpit,  and  who  unwittingly  emboldened  me 
to  present  the  work  to  the  public,  by  the  interest 
which  they  expressed  in  what  they  heard. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEK  I. 

GENERAL    SKETCH. 

PAGES 

Introduction 

State  of  Church  during  the  Rebellion         .         .         ...  3-6 

Eeign  of  Charles  II.    .        .        .  6-10 

James  II.          .         .     .  10-11 

„        William  and  Mary        .  11-14 

„                    „        Queen  Anne     .         .     .  14-15 


CHAPTER  II. 

CLERGY    OP   THE    PERIOD. 

THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD. 

Clergy  who  died  just  after  the  Restoration     ....  17 

„               a  little  before  the  Restoration          .         .     .  18-19 

Gilbert  Sheldon 19-20 

Matthew  Wren 20 

John  Pearson 

John  Cosin 21-23 

Peter  Gunning 23-25 

George  Morley .         •     •  25-26 

JohnEarle 26-27 

JohnHacket 27-29 

Beth  Ward .  29-30 

John  Fell  .                                   •  30-32 


VI 11  CONTENTS, 


PAQB3 

John  Dolben  ...........  83-34 

Jeremy  Taylor 84-35 

Other  Prelates  of  the  Caroline  Age        .        .        .        .        .  85-86 

Herbert  Thorndike 86-37 

Barnabas  Oley        .........  87-38 

Isaac  Barrow     .........  88-39 

Bobert  South          ........  40-41 

Bichard  Busby 41-43 

Isaac  Basire 43-44 

Eichard  Allestree 44-45 

Edmund  Pocock 45-46 

Thomas  Marshall       .........  46-47 

Parish  Priests  of  the  Period 47-49 

The  Cambridge  Platonists 49-53 


BEVOLUTION  AND  QUEEN  ANNE  PERIODS. 

William  Bancroft .         .  53-57 

John  Tillotson .  57-60 

Thomas  Tenison 60-62 

John  Sharp 62-65 

Henry  Compton 65-67 

Gilbert  Burnet 67-70 

Thomas  Ken 70-74 

Edward  Stillingfleet 74-76 

William  Beveridge 76-77 

Simon  Patrick  ..........  77-79 

Eichard  Kidder 79-80 

George  Hooper 80-81 

John  Lake 82 

Other  Prelates  of  the  Period 83-87 

Humphrey  Prideaux       .                  87-88 

Dennis  Granville 88-90 

Thomas  Comber 90 

Lancelot  Addison ;  Jonathan  Swift 91 

George  Hickes 92 

John  Kettlewell 92-94 

Samuel  Wesley  (the  Elder) 94-96 

Joseph  Bingham 96-97 

Anthony  Horneck 97-99 

Thomas  Bray 99-100 

Isaac  Milles 100-101 

Other  Clergy  of  the  Period 101-105 


CONTENTS  IX 

CHAPTER   III. 
FAITHFUL   LAITY   OF   THE    PEEIOD. 

(1)   MEN. 

PAGES 

Peter  Barwick 107-108 

Sir  Richard  Browne 108-109 

John  Evelyn 109-111 

Thomas  Willis 111-118 

Izaak  Walton 113 

Eobert  Boyle 113-110 

Sir  Matthew  Hale 116-117 

Sir  Thomas  Brown 117 

Sb?  Edmondsbury  Godfrey 117-118 

John  Kyrle  ('  The  Man  of  Boss  ') 118 

Edward  Hyde,  Earl  of  Clarendon 118-119 

EliasAshmole 119-121 

Sir  Christopher  Wren 121-122 

Viscount  Weymouth 122-123 

Simon  and  William,  Lords  Digby 123-124 

Heneage  Finch,  Earl  of  Nottingham 124-125 

Daniel  „  „  125-120 

Henry  Hyde,  Earl  of  Clarendon 126-127 

Laurence  Hyde,  Earl  of  Rochester 127 

Robert  Nelson 128-129 

Henry  Dodwell 129-132 

Francis  Cherry 132-133 

Samuel  Pepys  (as  a  Diarist) 133 

Ralph  Thoresby 133-135 

James  Bonnell 135-136 

Other  Laymen 136-138 

(2)  WOMEN. 

Dorothy,  Lady  Pakington 139 

Margaret  Godolphin 140 

Pious  Ladies  about  the  Court 140-141 

LadyRanelagh 141-142 

Mary,  Countess  of  Warwick 142-144 

Lady  Margaret  Maynard ;  Lady  Frances  Digby       .         .     .  144 

Lady  Elizabeth  Hastings 144-146 

Rachel,  Lady  Russell 146-147 

Countess  of  Derby ;  Lady  Conway         .....  147 


CONTENTS 


Mary  Astell 148-149 

Susanna  Hopton                 .         .         , 149-150 

Damaris  Cudworth         ........  150 

Misses  Kemeyse — Katherine  Philips  ('  The  Matchless  Orinda ')  151 

Mrs.  Evelyn 152 

Wives  of  Clergy         .         . 153-155 

Elizabeth  Burnet 155 

Susanna  Wesley 156-157 


CHAPTER   IV. 

RESTORATION    OF    ORDER. 

Difficulties  in  the  Way 158-159 

Fabrics. — Devastation  of  Cathedrals 159 

„               Parish  Churches    ....  160 

Reparation  of  Cathedrals        .        .         .        .        .     .  161-162 

„  Parish  Churches 162-168 

Services. — Private  Baptisms      .......  163-165 

Infrequent  Communions  ......  165-168 

Paucity  of  Communicants 168-170 

Concessions  to  Puritan  Scruples 170-171 

Daily  Prayers 172-175 

Catechising  in  Church 175-178 

Pulpit  Prayers 178-181 

Disuse  of  Chancels 181-182 

Irreverent  Behaviour  in  Church  .  .  .  .  .  182-183 

Instrumental  Music  in  Church 184-185 

New  and  Old  Versions  of  Psalms 185-187 

Irregularities  in  Church  Psalmody  ....  187-188 

Use  of  the  Surplice 188-189 

Church  Officers. — Lecturers 190-192 

Readers 192-193 

Parish  Clerks 193-194 

Finances. — Briefs 194-196 

The  Offertory 196 

Ritual  and  Furniture. — Bowing  to  the  East  ...  .  .  197-198 

Altar  Lights  ....,»..  198 

Altar  Rails 199 

Altar-pieces  and  Paintings  .  .  .  .  .  200-201 

King's  Arms  in  Churches  .  .  .  .  .  .  201 

Pews 202-203 

Notices  in  Church 203-204 

Services  of  Nonjurors     ........  204-206 


CONTENTS  XI 


CHAPTER   V. 
RELIGIOUS   AND   PHILANTHROPICAL    SOCIETIES. 

PAGES 

The  Religious  Societies 207-213 

Societies  for  the  Reformation  of  Manners     ....  213-216 

Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge      .         .         .     .  216-218 

Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  .  218-222 

Parochial  Libraries 222-224 

Charity  Schools 224-228 

Corporation  of  the  Sons  of  the  Clergy 228 

Queen  Anne's  Bounty 228-230 

Hospitals,  &c 230 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PEE  ACHING  OF  THE  PERIOD. 

Love  of  hearing  Sermons 231-232 

Complaints  of  the  Lack  of  Sermons 232 

Length  and  Abstruseness  of  Sermons 233 

Quotations  from  the  Learned  Languages  in  Sermons        .     .  234 

Preaching  of  Jeremy  Taylor 235-237 

Isaac  Barrow 237-238 

Robert  South 238-240 

Thomas  Ken 240-241 

Edward  Stillingfleet 241-242 

JohnDolben 243-245 

John  Tillotson 245-248 

John  Sharp 248 

Francis  Atterbury     ......  248-249 

William  Beveridge 249-250 

Simon  Patrick  .         .         .         .         .         ,        .  250-251 

Gilbert  Burnet 251 

„            Anthony  Horneck 251-252 

W.  Smythies— S.  Wesley 252 

„            Richard  Lucas 252-253 

Other  Preachers         ........  253-255 

High  Standard  of  Preaching 255-257 

Change  in  the  Style  and  Language  of  Sermons         .         .     .  257-258 

„            Length  of  Sermons 258-259 

Written  and  Unwritten  Sermons                ...              .  259-260 


Xll  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  VII. 
DEVOTIONAL   AND   PKACTICAL    WORKS. 

PAGES 

4  The  Whole  Duty  of  Man ' 261-264 

Other  Works  by  the  same  (?)  Author 264 

Jeremy  Taylor's  Devotional  Works 265 

Hammond's  '  Practical  Catechism  ' 265-266 

Ken's  '  Practice  of  Divine  Love  '  (Catechism)        .         .         .  266-267 

Other  Catechetical  Works 267-268 

Lake's  *  Omcium  Eucharisticum  ' 268-269 

Patrick's  '  Book  for  Beginners,  or  Help  to  Young  Communi 
cants  ' 269 

Other  Eucharistic  Works 270-271 

Comber's  '  Companion  to  the  Temple  ' 271-272 

Sherlock's   '  Discourse   of   Eeligious  Assemblies '   and   '  Of 

Death' 272 

Scott's  '  Christian  Life  ' 272-273 

Eawlet's  '  Christian  Monitor ' 273-274 

Beveridge's  '  Private  Thoughts  ' 274-275 

Patrick's  Practical  Works 275-276 

Eeprints  of  Earlier  Devotional  and  Practical  Works         .     .  276-278 

Lucas's  '  Practical  Christianity  ' 278-279 

„       *  Enquiry  after  Happiness ' 279-280 

Scougal's  '  Life  of  God  in  the  Soul  of  Man  ' .         .         .         .  280-281 

Burnet's 'Address  to  Posterity,' &c 281 

Worthington's  '  Great  Duty  of  Self- Resignation  to  the  Divine 

Will* 281-282 

Devotional  Works  that  were  originally  Sermons    .         .         .  282 

N orris's  Devotional  Works         .......  282-283 

R.  Boyle,  W.  Melmoth,  Sir  M.  Hale 284-285 

Steele  and  Addison  as  Practical  Writers 285 

R.  Nelson's  Practical  and  Devotional  Works          .        .         .  285 

Susanna  Hopton's  „  „  ....  286 

Mary  Astell's  „  „  ....  286-287 

Eliz.  Burnet's  '  Method  of  Devotion '         .        .        .         .     .  287 

Lady  Masham's  '  Discourse  concerning  the  Love  of  God  '     .  287-288 
Devotional  Works  specially  intended  for  Clergymen         .     .  288 

Other  Devotional  Works 288 

SACRED  POETRY. 

Ken's  '  Poems,  Devotional  and  Didactic  ' 289 

Norris's  Poetry       .  290 

Patrick's     „ 290 


CONTENTS  Xlii 

PACKS 

Addison's  Poetry 291 

S.  Wesley's   „ 292 

Comber's        „ 293 

Susanna  Hopton's  Poetry 294 

Other  Sacred  Poetry 294 

Dearth  of  Sacred  Poetry 295 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    CHUKCH   AND    SOCIAL    LIFE. 

Social  Status  of  the  Clergy 296 

Great  Inequalities  among  them         .         .         .         ...  297 

The  Supply  exceeded  the  Demand 297-298 

Domestic  Chaplains 298-300 

Distinction  of  Banks  very  Marked 300-301 

Clergy  travestied  in  Light  Literature 301-302 

'  Contempt  of  the  Clergy ' 302 

Poverty  of  the  Clergy 303-305 

Supposed  Ignorance  of  the  Country  Clergy    ....  805-306 

Reasons  for  supposing  they  were  not  Ignorant .         .         .     .  306-308 

Prosperity  of  some  of  the  Clergy 308-309 

Clergy  practised  Medicine 309-310 

Clergy  who  had  seen  Military  Service 310 

„       and  the  Legal  Profession 310-311 

Active  Part  taken  by  the  Clergy  in  Politics  ....  311 

The  Church  and  Amusements 311-312 

Part  which  the  Clergy  took  in  Amusements  ....  313 

Stillingfleet  on  Clerical  Amusements 313-316 

Church  Teaching  on  the  Sunday  Question     ....  316-317 

Recreation  on  the  Lord's  Day .  317-319 

Royal  and  Parliamentary  Utterances  about  Sunday      .         .  320-321 

The  Church  and  the  Royal  Society 321-322 

Extent  to  which  the  Clergy  mixed  in  Social  Life  .         .         .  322-323 

The  Dress  of  the  Clergy 323-325 

Church  Discipline 325-330 

Money  Commutations  for  Penance 326 

Effects  of  Church  Censures 328-329 

Casuistry  and  Casuists 330-334 

Family  Prayer 334-335 

Boldness  of  the  Clergy  in  rebuking  Vice 335-338 

Conduct  of  the  Clergy  during  the  Great  Plague     .         .         .  339-341 

Theology  of  the  Caroline  Age  too  Refined  to  be  Popular  .     .  341 


xiv  CONTENTS 

CHAPTEK   IX. 

THE    CHUECH    AND    OTHER   RELIGIOUS    BODIES. 

PAGES 

The  English  Nonconformists 342-348 

Keformed  Churches  abroad 348-351 

Eomanists 351-353 

The  Episcopal  Church  of  Scotland 353-354 

The  Irish  Church 354 

LIST  OF  AUTHOEITIES 358--3G8 

INDEX  3G9-376 


LIFE  IN  THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH. 

1660-1714. 


CHAPTEE   I. 

GENERAL    SKETCH. 

INTRODUCTION. 

IT  is  a  frequent  complaint  that  Church  History  has  been 
too  much  confined  to  a  history  of  disputes  between  Chris 
tians.  The  complaint  is  not  altogether  just.  For  in  any 
work  which  professes  to  be  a  complete  history  of  the  Church 
in  any  age,  a  narrative  of  controversies  must  necessarily 
occupy  a  very  large  space.  It  would,  no  doubt,  be  a 
blessed  thing  if  the  Church  of  Christ  could  be  built,  like 
Solomon's  temple,  without  the  noise  of  axes  and  hammers  ; 
but  this  is  a  beautiful  dream  which  has  never  been  realised 
— not  even  in  the  Apostolic  age.  There  is,  however,  some 
danger  lest  the  dust  raised  by  the  axes  and  hammers  should 
hide  the  real  progress  made  by  the  builders,  and  the  fair 
proportions  of  the  building.  And,  so  far  as  the  Church  of 
England  is  concerned,  there  is  no  period  in  her  history  in 
which  there  is  more  danger  of  this  than  the  stormy  period 
with  which  these  pages  have  to  deal.  In  this  volume  it  is 
proposed,  as  far  as  possible,  to  disentangle  the  life  of  the 
Church  from  her  controversies;  to  show  how  her  clergy 
lived  and  worked ; ]  how  her  faithful  laity,  both  men  and 

1  Chap.  II. 

B 


2  LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

women,  were  affected  by  her  influence ; J  how  her  services 
were  conducted ; 2  how  kindred  societies  were  organised  to 
be  her  handmaids ; 3  what  was  the  special  character  of  her 
preaching 4  and  the  books  which  fed  her  devotion  ; 5  what 
was  her  relation  to  the  social  life  of  the  period,6  and  to 
other  Christian  communities,  at  home  and  abroad.7  This, 
though  apparently  a  less  ambitious,  is  in  reality  a  far  more 
difficult  task  than  to  write  a  history  of  her  controversies. 
For  in  the  latter  case,  though  it  may  be  hard  to  give  a 
right  judgment  on  the  points  at  issue,  it  is  not  hard  to 
ascertain  what  those  points  were,  and  to  narrate  faithfully 
what  was  said  about  them.  But  it  is  hard  to  ascertain 
precisely  what  were  the  leading  features  in  the  Church  life 
of  any  period ;  the  inductive  faculty  must  be  most  judi 
ciously  exercised,  for  there  is  the  greatest  danger  of  drawing 
general  conclusions  from  insufficient  data,  of  mistaking 
the  exception  for  the  rule.  Again,  the  investigator  is 
embarrassed  by  the  very  abundance  of  his  materials ;  if 
his  work  is  to  be  confined  within  at  all  reasonable  limits, 
he  must  ask  his  reader  to  trust  him  to  an  extent  which  few 
other  authors  have  to  do.  And  once  more,  a  writer  who 
desires  to  present  an  attractive  picture  of  Church  life,  is 
terribly  tempted  not  to  give  a  due  prominence  to  blemishes ; 
the  present  writer  has  not,  knowingly  at  least,  yielded  to 
this  temptation ;  he  knows  that  '  the  spouse  of  Christ  on 
earth  is  not  like  His  spouse  in  Heaven,  without  spot  or 
wrinkle  or  any  such  thing,' 8  but  he  is  strangely  mistaken, 
if  a  picture  of  her  life  during  this  period  drawn  impartially 
will  not  be  worth  studying,  and  will  not  be  found  to  contain 
many  noble  features. 

Before  entering  into  details,  it  is  desirable  to  give  a  short 
general  sketch  of  the  Church  life  of  the  period,  and  its 

1  Chap.  III.  2  Chap.  IV.  3  Chap.  V. 

4  Chap.  VI.  5  Chap.  VII.  6  Chap.  VIII. 

7  Chap.  IX.  8  Dr.  Bray. 


GENERAL    SKETCH  3 

relation  to  the  different  reigning  sovereigns.  And  it  is 
really  not  going  beyond  the  subject  if  we  begin  by  casting 
at  least  a  passing  glance  upon  the  position  of  the  Church 
during  the  Rebellion ;  for  her  after-life  was  largely  moulded, 
both  for  good  and  evil,  by  the  circumstances  through  which 
she  then  passed.  All  that  the  State  could  do  to  crush  the 
life  out  of  her  was  done ;  but  that  all  was  really  nothing  at 
all.  Never  was  her  life  more  vigorous  than  when  she  was 
spoken  and  thought  of  as- dead  and  buried;  never  was  her 
liturgy  more  venerated  than  when  it  was  proscribed  ;  never 
were  her  faithful  ministers  more  firmly  attached  to  her 
principles  than  when  the  profession  of  those  principles 
entailed  the  ruin  of  every  worldly  prospect.  The  very 
defacement  of  her  grand  old  edifices,  grievous  as  the 
spectacle  must  have  been  to  every  faithful  churchman,  was 
in  one  way  turned  to  her  advantage ;  for  it  taught  church 
men  to  realise  that  the  Church  was  not  dependent  upon 
bricks  and  mortar,  or  any  external  support,  animate  or 
inanimate.  The  bitter  antagonism  she  encountered  was 
not  without  its  advantages ;  it  forced  men  to  be  decided  in 
their  principles ;  the  question  was  not  now,  as  it  was  a  few 
years  later,  between  '  conforming '  and  '  non-conforming.' 
A  man  who  professed  himself  a  churchman  had  drawn  the 
sword  and  thrown  away  the  scabbard.  In  short,  the  fire  of 
persecution  was,  like  all  fire,  a  purifying  as  well  as  a  de 
stroying  element.  Let  us  see  the  sort  of  life  churchmen  led 
when  their  cause  seemed  for  the  time  being  hopelessly  lost. 
In  point  of  fact,  it  never  was  lost,  and  no  true  church 
man  ever  believed  that  it  was ;  they  all  looked  forward  to 
better  times ;  !  and  meanwhile  no  act  of  parliament,  no 

1  '  The  good  doctor  [Hacket]  advised  them  better,  that  the  Church  of 
England  was  still  in  being  and  not  destroyed,  rather  refin'd  by  her  suffer 
ings.  .  .  .  And  in  these  lowest  of  times  he  was  full  of  faith  and  courage, 
that  he  himself  should  still  live  to  see  a  better  world  one  day,'  &c.  (Plume's 
Life  of  Hacket.)  Bishop  Brow-nrigg  collated  Seth  Ward  to  the  Precentor- 
ship  of  Exeter  Cathedral,  '  in  full  confidence  that  the  king  would  be  restored 
and  the  professor  confirmed  in  his  office,'  though  he  was  laughed  at  for 

B  2 


4  LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

exercise  of  military  power,  could  prevent  them  from  wor 
shipping  God  in  their  own  way.  The  well-known  picture 
in  the  hall  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  representing  Fell, 
Dolben,  and  Allestree  conducting  the  forbidden  services,  is 
a  typical  instance.  Racket's  house  was  made  a  meeting- 
place  of  the  clergy.  Dr.  Hewett  performed  the  Church 
services  in  S.  Gregory's  church,  near  S.  Paul's.  Jeremy 
Taylor  is  found  preaching  as  a  churchman  to  churchmen 
in  1654,  and,  after  his  release  from  the  Tower,  ministering 
in  a  private  house.1  Peter  Gunning  ministered  in  the 
chapel  of  Exeter  House,  Strand,  in  spite  of  the  Protector's 
protests.  One  of  the  weapons  of  the  Puritans  was,  in  & 
rather  amusing  way,  turned  against  themselves.  The  law 
against  ministrations  in  churches  did  not  apply  to  the 
lecturers,  who  were  originally  a  sort  of  free  lances,  inde 
pendent  of  parochial  organisation ;  and  therefore  Pearson 
and  others  were  enabled  to  evade  the  law  by  acting  as 
lecturers,  '  the  door  being  left  so  widely  ajar  that  there  was 
room  for  Eutulian  as  well  as  Trojan  to  enter  in.' 2  Cromwell 
could  not  even  keep  his  own  family  from  the  infection ; 
his  two  daughters  were  staunch  churchwomen,  attending 
Dr.  Hewett' s  ministry,  and  being  married  according  to  the 
rites  of  the  Church  of  England. 


doing  so.  (Some  Particulars  of  the  Life  &c.  of  Selh  Ward,  Bishop  of 
Sarum.)  Jeremy  Taylor  looks  forward  to  the  time  '  when  it  shall  please 
God,  who  hath  the  hearts  of  princes  in  His  hands,  and  turneth  them  as  the 
rivers  of  waters,  when  men  will  consider  the  invaluable  loss  that  is  appen- 
dant  to  the  destroying  such  forms  of  discipline  and  devotion  in  which  God 
was  purely  worshipped,  and  the  Church  was  edified,  and  the  people  in 
structed  to  great  degrees  of  piety,  knowledge,  and  devotion.'  (Apology  for 
Set  Forms  of  Devotion,  1646.)  Bishop  Skinner,  when  he  ordained  Bull  in 
1655,  would  not  give  him  letters  of  Orders,  but  '  withal  assured  him  that 
when  the  ancient  Apostolical  government  of  the  Church  should  be  restored, 
which  he  did  not  question  but  a  little  time  would  bring  about,  they  should 
be  sent  him,'  (fee.  (Nelson's  Life  of  Bishop  Bull,  p.  40.) 

1  Life,  by  Heber,  p.  xxxix  (3rd  ed.,  1839). 

2  Bishop  Pearson's  Minor  Works,  with  Memoir  of  Author,  by  E.  Churton 
(1844),  p.  xxxi.     Dr.  Warmestry  was  lecturer  at  S.  Margaret's,  Westminster, 
Anthony  Faringdon  at  S.  Mary  Magdalene,  Milk  Street. 


GENERAL    SKETCH  5 

When  we  turn  from  town  to  country,  the  undiminished 
vitality  of  the  Church  strikes  us  even  more  forcibly.  Many 
of  the  country  clergy  still  held  their  livings,  though  of 
course  on  a  most  precarious  tenure.  Lewis  Atterbury  (father 
of  the  bishop)  remained  incumbent  of  Milton,1  Pocock,  of 
Childrey,2  Sanderson,  of  Boothby  Pagnell,  Stillingfleet,  of 
Button,  Bull,  of  Suddington.3  Usher  preached  almost 
within  a  stone's  throw  of  Whitehall.4  Salisbury  Cathedral 
was  scrupulously  kept  in  repair  by  a  number  of  anonymous 
churchmen,  who  employed  workmen  evidently  in  sympathy 
with  the  spirit  of  the  work.5  Many  of  the  clergy  officiated 
in  private  houses — Morton,  for  instance,  in  the  family  of 
Sir  C.  Yelverton,6  Juxon  at  Chastleton  House,7  Barnabas 
Oley  at  Exeter  House,8  Hammond  at  Westwood.9  Many 
used  the  Church  prayers  without  book,  and  thus  seemed  to 
conform  to  the  Directory.10  Many  held  firmly  to  their 
principles,  but  contented  themselves  with  quietly -pursuing 
employments  not  connected  with  the  din  of  controversy. 
Such  were  many  of  those  who  formed  the  germs  of  the 
Royal  Society,  such  were  several  of  the  Cambridge  Plato- 
nists,  such  were  Brian  Walton  and  his  learned  colleagues, 
who  utilised  their  enforced  leisure  in  raising  that  great 
monument  of  their  industry,  the  Polyglott  Bible ;  such  were 
Beveridge  and  Cave,  who  were  quietly  laying  in  those  stores 
of  knowledge  which  afterwards  took  shape  in  the  '  Pandectae 
Canonum  SS.  Apostolorum '  and  the  '  Historia  Literaria.' 
Many  again  went  abroad,  Morley  to  Antwerp,  where  he 

Memoirs  &c.  of  Bishop  Atterbury,  by  Folkestone  Williams,  i.  3. 

Life  of  Edward  Pocock  (Twells,  1810),  p.  140. 

Nelson's  Life,  pp.  44,  76.  Stillingfleet  was  actually  appointed  to 
Sut  on  in  1G57,  Bull  to  Suddington  in  1658. 

Skeat's  History  of  the  Free  Churches  of  England,  p.  61. 

See  Pope's  Life  of  Bishop  Seth  Ward,  pp.  62-3. 

Walker's  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  50. 

Memoirs  of  Archbishop  Juxon,  by  W.  H.  Marah. 

Walker.  9  Life,  by  Bishop  Fell. 

0  E.g.  Bull  and  Sanderson.  See  Nelson's  Life  of  Bull,  and  Walton's  of 
Sanderson. 


6  LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

regularly  performed  all  the  services  of  the  Church,  Cosin  to 
France,  Basire  to  the  furthest  regions  of  the  East.  Some, 
like  Matthew  Wren  and  Jeremy  Taylor,  might  have  heen 
found  in  prison,  still  firm  to  their  principles.  Many  of  those 
who  became  most  famous  in  after  times  were  ordained  by 
bishops  who  were  not  afraid  of  performing  their  episcopal 
functions  at  the  most  imminent  risk  to  themselves.  Bishop 
Skinner,  sometimes  alone,  sometimes  attended  by  Dr. 
Bathurst,  held  frequent  ordinations.  Patrick  was  ordained 
by  Hall,  the  ejected  Bishop  of  Norwich,  Tenisuii  by  Bishop 
Duppa,  Stillingfleet  by  Bishop  Brownrigg.  In  a  word,  it 
was  found,  to  use  the  language  of  Sancroft,  that '  there  were 
caves  and  dens  of  the  earth,  and  upper  rooms  and  secret 
chambers  for  a  church  in  persecution  to  flee  unto,  and  there 
would  be  her  refuge.' l  Or,  at  the  worst,  they  could  echo 
the  grand  apostrophe  of  Jeremy  Taylor — 'I  shall  crave 
that  I  may  remember  Jerusalem,  and  call  to  mind  the 
pleasures  of  the  Temple,  the  order  of  her  services,  the 
beauty  of  her  buildings,  the  sweetness  of  her  songs,  the 
decency  of  her  ministrations,  the  assiduity  and  economy 
of  her  priests  and  Levites,  the  daily  sacrifice,  and  that 
eternal  fire  of  devotion  that  went  not  out  by  day  nor  by 
night ;  these  were  the  pleasures  of  our  peace,  and  there  is 
a  remancnt  felicity  in  the  very  memory  of  those  spiritual 
delights  which  we  then  enjoyed,  as  the  antepasts  of 
Heaven,  and  consignation  to  an  immortality  of  joys.' 2 

EEIGN   OF  CHARLES  II. 

If  the  life  of  the  Church  was  so  vigorous  at  the  time 
when  every  outward  support  was  withdrawn,  and  every 
effort  used  to  extinguish  it,  ought  not  its  vigour  to  have 
been  increased  when  the  restoration  of  the  monarchy  gave 
her  once  more  the  upper  hand  ?  Ought  she  not  to  have 

1  D'Oyly's  Life  of  Sancroft,  i.  44. 

2  Apology  for  Authorised  and  Set  Forms  of  Devotion. 


GENERAL    SKETCH  7 

substituted  at  once  a  sober,  rational  religion  for  the  wild 
fanaticism  and  sour  Puritanism  which  had  of  late  pre 
vailed  ?  She  oufjld  to  have  done  so,  and  she  would  have 
done  so,  if  she  had  had  a  fair  field  and  no  favour ;  but,  as 
a  matter  of  fact  she  did  not.  And  since  the  immorality  of 
the  Eestoration  period  has  frequently  been  adduced  as 
a  proof  that  our  Church  has  not  the  power  of  leavening  the 
nation  for  good,  it  is  necessary  to  put  the  facts  in  a  right 
light.  It  should  be  remembered,  then,  that  she  was  em 
barrassed  on  all  sides.  Consider  the  colossal  difficulty  of 
the  work  to  be  done.  It  is  putting  the  case  far  too  mildly 
to  say  that  the  Church  had  to  deal  with  the  reaction  against 
the  overstrained  severity  of  Puritanism.  A  comparison 
has  sometimes  been  drawn  between  the  license  of  the 
Eegency  period  in  France,  when  the  death  of  Louis  XIV. 
had  set  the  Court  free  from  the  artificial  piety  which  had 
marked  the  later  years  of  the  Grand  Monarch's  reign,  and 
the  license  of  the  Eestoration  period  in  England.  But  the 
cases  are  not  parallel ;  for  in  France  the  reign  of  strictness 
had  not  spread  far  beyond  the  pale  of  the  Court ;  it  had 
pervaded  every  corner  of  England.  And  the  Church  of 
England  was  in  a  far  worse  position  for  stemming  the 
torrent  of  impiety  than  the  Gallican  Church  was.  For 
this  reason.  In  France  it  was  the  Church  itself  which  had 
been  carried  away  by  the  wave  of  asceticism,  and  the 
Church  itself  which  fell  back  with  the  ebb-tide.  But  in 
England  the  dissoluteness  of  the  period  was  combined  with 
a  strong,  and,  in  its  way,  sincere,  but  at  the  same  time 
very  embarrassing  attachment  to  the  Church.1  Austerity 
on  the  part  of  the  clergy  seemed  like  siding  witb  their 
enemies  and  against  their  friends.  It  is  difficult  to  realise, 
much  more  to  describe,  the  utter  disgust  which  the  great 

1  «  How  is  an  old  Cavalier  like  me  to  be  known  from  those  cuckoldy 
Roundheads  that  do  nothing  but  fast  and  pray,  if  we  are  not  to  drink  and 
swear  according  to  our  degree  ?  '  asks  Whitaker,  Lady  Peveril's  old  steward, 
in  Sir  Walter  Scott's  novel.  Sir  Walter  was  always  true  to  the  spirit  of  the 
times,  if  not  always  accurate  in  details. 


8  LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,   1660-1714 

majority  of  the  nation  had  conceived  against  Puritanism,  and 
the  immense  sense  of  relief,  when  the  burden,  under  which 
they  had  long  been  chafing,   was  removed.     It   was  like 
^Eolus  removing  the  mountain  which  shut  in  the  cavern  of 
the  winds,  and  it  would  hardly  have  been  a  more  hopeful 
task  to  attempt  to  stay  the  course  of  the  winds,  than  to 
check   the   torrent   of    unbridled    license   which   was   the 
inevitable  result  of  the  release  of  the  long  pent-up  elements. 
And  how  was  the  Church  prepared  to  grapple  with  the 
evil  ?     Badly  in  every  way.     In  the  first  place,  her  relation 
to   her   restored   sovereign  was  most  embarrassing.     The 
fact  that  the  fortunes  of  the  Church  and  the  Monarchy 
seemed  to  be  inseparably  bound  together ;  the  sad  circum 
stances  connected  with  the  death  of  her  last  king,  who, 
whatever  his  faults  were,  was  at  least  faithful  to  his  Church, 
and,  in  fact,  died    for  her ;  l    the  contrast  with    the  iron 
rule  of  military  tyranny  and  the  utter  disorder  into  which 
the  nation  had  fallen,  ecclesiastically  as  well  as  civilly ;  all 
this   naturally  tended  to  throw  a  glamour   over   royalty 
and  to  increase  the  enthusiasm  of  churchmen  in  its  behalf. 
Eoyalty  in  the  abstract  was,  to  pious  churchmen,  the  very 
incarnation  of  a  lofty  purity  of  mind  and  morals,  a  dignity 
of  character  befitting  the  nursing  father  of  the  grandest 
and  oldest   of    all   English   institutions;    royalty   in    the 
concrete  was— Charles  II ! 2     It  is  with  reluctance  that  I 
even  hint  at  this  source  of  the   Church's  weakness;  for 
enough,  and  more  than  enough,  has  been  written  about 
the  bad  qualities  of  this  king,  while  sufficient  account  has 
not  been  taken  of  the  extraordinary   temptations   of  his 
position,  both  in  exile  and  on  the  throne,  temptations  which 
were  strong  enough  to  ruin  a  far  firmer  character  than  his. 

1  At  least,  he  may  be  said  so  far  to  have  died  in  her  defence,  inasmuch 
as  if  he  had  consented  to  give  up  the  Church,  his  life  would  undoubtedly 
have  been  spared. 

2  '  Bishop  Juxon,  who  had  known  the  piety  of  Charles  I.,  was  so  over 
whelmed  by  an  interview  he  had  with  his  son  that  he  is  said  never  to  have 
held  up  his  head  again.'— Perry's  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  ii.  313. 


GENERAL    SKETCH  9 

Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that  English  churchmen  have 
reason  to  regard  his  memory,  at  least  on  two  accounts. 
His  Church  appointments  were  almost  invariably  good,1  and 
he  was  a  steady  and  intelligent  patron  of  literature  and 
the  fine  arts 2  which  have  ever  been  favourable  to  the  pros 
perity  of  a  Church  which  is  the  natural  home  of  cultured 
men.  At  the  same  time  it  is  but  bare  justice,  in  estimating 
the  influence  which  the  Church  exercised,  not  to  forget  the 
fatal  barrier  to  that  influence  raised  by  her  connection  with 
such  a  king.  The  Church  and  the  Monarch,  wrote  Stilling- 
fleet,  '  like  Hippocrates'  twins,  rise  and  fall  together.' 
What  a  twin  to  be  bound  to  !  Besides  the  indirect  injury 
he  did  by  his  libertinism  both  in  deed  and  in  opinion,  he  was 
directly  her  enemy  ;  he  notoriously  disliked  her  clergy  and 
set  his  courtiers  against  them.3 

There  was  yet  another  obstacle  to  the  Church's  influence, 
which  is  not  so  obvious,  but  which,  in  point  of  fact,  was 
perhaps  the  greatest  of  all.  Much  has  been  written  against 
the  severe  laws  which  were  passed  to  force  men  into  con 
formity  ;  their  cruelty  and  injustice  to  the  conscientious 
dissenter  has  been  incessantly  and  very  rightly  pointed  out ; 
but  has  sufficient  notice  been  taken  of  their  cruelty  and 


1  It  will  be  remembered  that  Dr.  Johnson  called  attention  to  this  fact. 

2  Witness  his  kindness  to  the  learned  antiquary,  Elias  Ashmole  (see 
Ashmole's  Diary  for  1GGO),  his  foundation  of  the  Observatory  at  Greenwich, 
and  his  personal  interest  in  scientific  observations. 

3  See,  inter  alia,  Sir  John   Keresby's   diary: — 'I   was   at   the   king's 
couchee.     His  Majesty  was  in  very  good  humour  and  took  up  some  time  in 
displaying  to  us  the  fallacy  and  emptiness  of  those  who  pretend  to  a  fuller 
measure  of  sanctity  than  their  neighbours,  and  pronounced  them  to  be,  for 
the  most  part,   abominable  hypocrites  and  the  most  arrant  knaves  ;    as 
instances  of  which  he  mentioned  several  eminent  men  of  our  own  times, 
nor  spared  to  introduce  some  mitred  heads  among  the  rest,  whom  he  pre 
tended  to  be  none  of  the  best,  though  their  devout  exterior  gave  them  the 
character  of  saints  with  the  crowd.'     (Travels  and  Memoirs  of  Sir  John 
Eeresby,  p.  238.)     Conceive  the  results  of  such  edifying  discourse  coming 
from  one  who  was  gifted  with  extraordinary  powers  of  fascination,  who  was 
far  above  the  average  in  point  of  intelligence,  and  who  was  in  the  position 
of  a  king  ! 


IO          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

injustice  to  the  Church  itself  ?  What  policy  could  be  more 
utterly  fatal  to  the  prosperity  of  any  institution  than  one 
which  was  obviously  adapted  to  drive  the  conscientious 
men  out,  and  to  keep  men  of  easy  conscience  within  its 
pale  ?  But  that  was  precisely  what  the  penal  laws  had  a 
direct  tendency  to  do,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  did.  A 
large  number  of  the  Church's  officers  were  not  churchmen 
at  all,  but  merely  '  conformists'1— a  very  different  thing. 
With  such  a  staff  how  could  she  do  justice  to  her  principles  ? 2 
The  marvel  is,  not  that  she  did  so  little,  but  that  she  did 
so  much  for  good,  under  these  conditions. 

REIGN  OF  JAMES  II. 

The  influence  of  the  Church  had  begun  to  tell  largely 
upon  the  morals  of  the  nation  some  years  before  the  death 
of  King  Charles ;  one  proof  of  which  is  seen  in  that  re 
markable  outburst  of  religious  fervour  which  gave  rise  to 
the  '  Religious  Societies  '  in  1678,  of  which  more  will  be 
said  presently ;  and  this  influence  certainly  did  not  decrease 
during  the  three  years  that  James  II.  was  upon  the  throne. 
Of  the  many  infatuations  of  that  infatuated  prince,  none 
was  greater  than  his  absurd  hope  that  the  Church  of  Eng 
land  was  about  to  make  way  for  that  Church  whose  cause 
he  espoused  with  all  the  fervour  of  a  pervert.  Unwittingly, 
he  conferred  a  very  great  benefit  upon  the  Church  which  he 

1  Not  even   « conformists  '   in  the  sense  of   conforming  loyally  to  the 
order   and   discipline   of   their  Church.     Archdeacon  Basire  declares  that 
4  many  churches  are  provided  with  such  as  are  in  effect  noe  ministers  ;  and 
are  soe  far  from  conforming  themselves  that  they  preach  against  those  that 
are  conformed  '  &c.  (Hunter's  Collection  of  MSS.,  ii.  G8.)     Dean  Granville 
complains  of  '  the  non-conformity,  or  rather  semi-conformity  of  the  clergy 
(who  did  with  zeale  more  than  enough  and  sometimes  too  bitterly  inveigh 
against  non-conformists),'  &c.     (Remains,  Surtees  Miscellanea,  Part  I.,  p. 
136).     '  Of  all  nonconformists,  I  confesse  I  have  most  indignation  against 
those  that  can  accept  of  a  fat  benefice  and  preferment,  and  yet  not  con 
form  '  &c.     (16.  Part  II.  p.  41.     Entry  December  1697.) 

2  This  point  is  well  brought  out  in  the  Church  Quarterly  Rcvieiu,  July 
1877. 


GENERAL    SKETCH  T  I 

had  abandoned,  by  giving  her  the  opportunity  of  proving 
beyond  a  doubt  how  utterly  irreconcileable  her  principles 
were  with  those  of  Eome.  The  people  at  large  were  con 
firmed  in  the  confidence  which  the  well-informed  had  long 
held,  when  they  saw  her  defending  her  position  on  true 
Catholic,  as  opposed  to  Eoman  Catholic,  grounds ;  and  the 
nonconformists  themselves  joined  in  her  praises.  Nineteen- 
twentieths  of  the  nation  were  now,  nominally  at  least, 
within  her  fold.  Her  services  were  more  numerous,  better 
attended,  and  more  devoutly  joined  in  than  they  had  ever 
been  since  the  Eeformation.  Her  popularity  was  at  its 
height ;  the  memorable  episode  of  the  '  Seven  Bishops  '  was 
not  a  mere  fitful  outburst  of  enthusiasm,  but  the  expression 
of  a  feeling  which  had  existed  for  some  years,  and  which 
extraordinary  circumstances  now  called  forth.  Her  internal 
dissensions,  which  had  never  been  great  since  the  Restora 
tion,1  were  now  less  marked  than  ever.  And  there  is  an 
apologetical  tone  about  the  writings  of  the  comparatively 
few  who  dissented  from  her,  which  seems  to  indicate  that, 
if  matters  had  gone  on  as  they  had  begun,  most  of  them 
would  have  been  won  over,  and  we  might  have  seen  realised 
the  grand  idea  of  a  Church  truly  coextensive  with  the 
nation,  and  adequately  supplying  all  that  nation's  spiritual 
wants.  She  hardly  realised  her  own  strength ;  she  could 
well  have  afforded  to  dispense  with  those  artificial  defences 
which  a  mistaken  zeal  had  raised  about  her ;  in  fact  she 
would  have  been  stronger  without  them.  If  one  had  to  pick 
out  a  period  when  our  Church  was  at  its  strongest  and  its 
best,  it  would  be  hard  to  select  a  better  than  when  its  tem 
poral  defender  was  one  of  the  bitterest  foes  it  ever  had. 

REIGN  OF   WILLIAM  AND  MARY. 

If  the  progress  of  Church  life  was  not  so  much  impeded 
as  one  might  have  expected  it  to  be  by  the  stirring  events  of 

1  I  am  speaking  of  '  cliurchroen,'  not  '  conformists." 


12          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

the  [Revolution  era,  the  reason  is  that,  after  all,  political 
changes  cannot  affect  much  the  work  of  truly  pious  men 
who  are  guided  by  definite  principles.    Otherwise,  the  violent 
party- spirit  which  arose  must  have  been  simply  ruinous  to 
Church  work.     The  internal  dissensions  of  the  Church  were 
immensely  aggravated.      The  deliberate  and   undisguised 
endeavours  of  King  James  to  Eomanise   the  nation  had 
bound  together  by  a  sense  of  one  common  danger  all  church 
men.     Minor  differences  were  forgotten,  and  they  worked 
together,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  in  defence  of  the  institution 
they  all  loved.     But  when  the  danger  was  past,  and  when 
they  had  to  answer  another  question,  '  Under  which  king, 
Bezonian,  speak  or  die !  '  the  spirit  of  union  was  at  once 
changed  for  a  spirit  of  discord.     Churchmen  were  placed  in 
a  dilemma.     If  they  threw  their  vast  influence  into  the  scale 
of  the  exiled  James,  they  ran  the  risk  of  being  unfaithful 
to  their  country  as  citizens,   if  into  that  of  William  and 
Mary,  of  being  unfaithful  to  their  Church,  at  least  as  her 
doctrines   had   been   all  but   universally   understood   and 
explained  for  the  last  thirty  years.     Some  shrank  from  one, 
some  from  the  other  horn  of  the  dilemma,  and  each  tried  to 
impale  the  other  on  the  horn  which  he  had  himself  avoided. 
Some  tried  to  run  with  the  hare  and  hunt  with  the  hounds  ; 
not  intentionally  perhaps,   but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  their 
attitude  can  be  only  so  described ;  and  when  compromise 
once  takes  the  place  of  principle,  the  moral  effect  on  the 
character  is  inevitably  damaging.     In  estimating  the  loss 
which  the  Established  Church  sustained  from  the  secession 
of  the  nonjurors,  numbers  are  a  very  imperfect  guide.     Say 
that  they  were  but  a  handful  in  comparison  with  the  vast 
majority  who  took  the  oaths,  yet  the  loss  of  a  handful  of  the 
best  and  most  conscientious  men  is  no  slight  loss.     The 
most  healthy  organisation  can  ill,  afford  to  be  deprived  of 
some  of  its  best  blood.     But  it  was  far  more  than  this. 
Many  of  those  who  nominally  acquiesced  in  the  new  settle- 


GENERAL    SKETCH  13 

ment  sympathised  in  their  hearts  with  the  nonjurors  j1  or 
at  any  rate  were  far  more  in  sympathy  with  them  than 
with  those  whom  the  king  delighted  to  honour.  In  fact, 
there  were  two  hostile  camps  in  the  Church,  roughly  repre 
sented  by  the  two  Houses  of  Convocation.  On  the  one  side 
were  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  newly  appointed  bishops,  a  small 
sprinkling  of  the  clergy,  and  the  majority  of  the  middle 
class  among  the  laity ;  on  the  other  side,  the  majority  of 
the  clergy,  many  of  the  nobility  and  higher  gentry,  and  the 
majority  among  the  lower  classes.2  Such  a  division  was 
obviously  most  injurious  to  the  growth  of  Church  life.  In 
almost  every  parish  there  were  High  Churchmen  and  Low 
Churchmen  (it  was  now  that  these  detestable  names  first 
became  general)  thwarting  one  another.3 

It  did  not  mend  the  matter  that  the  *  Defender  of  the 
Faith '  was  a  Dutch  Presbyterian  who  had  no  sympathy 
whatever  with  any  of  the  Church's  distinctive  principles  and 
practices.  The  queen,  indeed,  had  been  brought  up  a  strict 
churchwoman,4  and  if  left  to  herself  would  doubtless  have 
been  a  true  nursing  mother ;  she  did  what  she  could  during 
her  short  life,  and  a  marked  alteration  for  the  worse  in  the 
relation  of  royalty  to  the  Church  is  perceptible  after  her 
death ;  but,  at  best,  she  was  quite  a  secondary  personage ; 
and  her  painful  position  as  the  supplanter  of  her  own  father 

1  Birch  says  (Life  of  Tillotson,  p.  191), '  The  majority  of  the  Lower  House 
(of  Convocation,  1689)  had  a  reserved  kindness  for  the  non-juring  bishops 
and  clergy,'  and  these  undoubtedly  represented  the  feelings  of  their  con 
stituents.     The  same  feeling  is  shown  in  the  petition  presented  to  King 
William,  in  which  they  '  passionately  entreated  that  the  Church  might  not 
suffer  so  great  a  loss  as  to  be  deprived  of  them.' 

2  See  Eapin,  vol.  xii.  p.  256.      See  also  Walter  Bagehot's  interesting 
essay  on  '  Bolingbroke  as  a  Statesman.'     (Biographical  Studies,  p.  165.) 

3  There   is    a  most  interesting   letter    (not    published)    in    the   British 
Museum,  among  the  MSS.  of  White  Kennet,  in  which  the  writer  describes 
the  confusion  thus  introduced  into  the  parish  of  Shottesbrook.     See  also 
a  letter  from  Ken  to  the  Dean  of  Worcester  (Hickes),  on  the  same  subject. 
(Letter  X.  in  Bichop  Ken's  Prose  Works,  Bound's  edition.) 

4  At  least,  so  far  as  the  influence  of  Dr.  Ed.  Lake,  one  of  her  spiritual 
directors,  went;  the  churchmanship  of  Dr.  Compton,her  other  director,  was 
of  a  different  type. 


14          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

did  not  add  to  her  power.  The  happiest  event  for  the 
Church  during  this  reign  was  the  passing  of  the  Toleration 
Act ;  for  the  enforced  conformity  of  unwilling  minds,  and 
the  odium  which  attached  to  those  in  whose  favour  perse 
cuting  laws  were,  by  a  most  mistaken  policy,  enacted,  were 
real  drawbacks  to  her  spiritual  influence.  But  on  the  whole 
the  Church  suffered  a  severe  check  to  the  flourishing  pro 
gress  she  was  making  during  this  crisis. 


EEIGN  OF   QUEEN  ANNE. 

In  each  of  the  preceding  periods  it  has  been  found 
necessary  to  notice  the  difficulties  set  in  the  way  of  Church 
life  by  the  hostility  or  indifference  of  the  reigning  sove 
reigns.  These  difficulties  were  now  removed,  for  Queen 
Anne  was  a  thorough  churchwoman,  according  to  her  lights. 
But  though  the  Church  was  now  free  from  one  of  the  em 
barrassments  from  which  she  had  suffered  ever  since  the 
Kestoration,  there  were  still  great  impediments  to  her 
spiritual  progress.  Chief  among  them  was  the  inextricable 
confusion  which  now  existed  between  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
affairs.  Politics  have  constantly  been  the  bane  of  Church 
life,  but  never  more  so  than  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne. 
Many  of  the  so-called  Church  questions  which  violently^ 
agitated  men's  minds  were  really  far  more  of  a  political 
than  of  an  ecclesiastical  character.  The  fact  is,  that  though 
it  is  exceedingly  doubtful  whether  the  State  was  of  much 
use  to  the  Church,  there  is  110  doubt  that  the  Church  was 
of  very  great  use  to  the  State ;  it  was  a  name  to  conjure 
with,  and  it  was  used  accordingly.1  Nothing  marks  more 
strongly  the  popularity  of  the  Church  at  this  period  than 
the  evident  fact  that  no  one  had  the  least  chance  of  a 
hearing  unless  he  professed  a  friendship  for,  or  at  least  no 

1  Archbishop  Sharp,  with  his  wonted  plain  common  sense,  pointed  this 
out.     See  his  Life,  by  his  son  (ed.  by  Newcome),  pp.  256-7. 


GENERAL    SKETCH 


hostility  to  her.  Those  who  were  her  bitterest  enemies 
assumed  an  apologetical  tone.1  If  the  Church  did  not  take 
as  much  advantage  as  might  have  been  expected  of  the 
splendid  opportunity  which  now  seemed  to  be  offered  to 
her,  the  reason  was  that  she  was  too  much  absorbed  in  the 
vortex  of  politics.  But  this  and  other  points  will  be  brought 
out  more  clearly  when  we  pass  from  a  general  view  to 
specific  details. 

1  See,  inter  alia,  Viscount  Bolingbroke's  Works,  passim,  and  all  the 
Deistical  literature.  Perhaps  it  is  hardly  fair  to  rank  Defoe  as  a  bitter 
enemy,  but  he  was  avowedly  a  dissenter,  and  his  tone  is  the  same. 


1 6         LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-17^ 


CHAPTEE   II. 

CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD. 

THE  hagiology  of  the  Church  of  England  has  yet  to  be 
written.  Eomanists  and  all  classes  of  dissenters  have 
celebrated  their  worthies  far  more  fully  than  we  have 
done ;  but  our  silence  has  not  been  for  lack  of  material— 
rather  from  a  superabundance  of  it.1  Even  in  dealing  with 
less  than  a  twentieth  part  of  the  period  over  which  the 
Church  of  England  extends,  the  difficulty  is  enormous. 
And  so  there  is  need  to  apologise  both  for  the  length,  and 
also  for  the  brevity,  of  this  chapter  and  the  next.  The 
number  of  lives  sketched  is  so  great  that  there  is  a  fear  of 
confusing  the  reader  and  wearying  his  patience ;  and  yet 
the  omissions  are  so  many  that  he  may  also  have  reason 
to  complain  that  some  favourite  is  neglected  or  too  curtly 
treated.  It  will  add  to  the  clearness  of  the  chapter  to  sub 
divide  it  and  treat,  first,  of  the  clergy  of  what  may  be 
roughly  called  the  Eestoration  period,  and  then,  of  those 
of  the  Eevolution  period. 

1  Even  two  hundred  years  ago,  a  divine  wrote  :  '  The  members  of  the 
Church  of  England  have  been  reputed,  of  all  others,  the  slackest  to  celebrate 
their  own  worthies,  partly,  I  conceive,  from  the  humility  and  modesty  of 
their  principles  and  education,  partly  from  the  great  multitude  of  incom 
parable  scholars  therein  to  be  commemorated,  that  such  labours  would  be 
almost  infinite.'  (Plume's  Preface  to  the  Life  of  Hacket.)  The  labours 
naturally  increase  with  increasing  years.  '  A  true  and  wholesome  hagiology,' 
remarks  Mr.  Mozley  very  truly  (Reminiscences,  ii.  372),  '  may  be  now  impos 
sible  ;  yet  may  not  that  be  lamented,  and  may  we  not  dwell  on  that  which 
might  have  been  ?  '  See  also  some  good  remarks  on  the  very  period  with 
which  we  have  to  do,  in  Remains  of  A.  W.  Haddan,  '  Keview  of  Debary's 
History,'  &c. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  I  >j 

THE  RESTORATION  PERIOD. 

At  the  Eestoration,  there  was  obviously  but  one  man 
to  whom  the  Primacy,  vacant  since  the  execution  of  Laud 
sixteen  years  before,  could  be  offered.  If  he  had  any 
regard  for  his  father's  memory,  Charles  II.  could  hardly 
have  passed  over  William  Juxon  (1582-1663).  That  old 
and  trusted  friend,  that  most  faithful  and  honest  adviser, 
who  had  been  with  Charles  I.  to  the  very  end  and  received 
his  last  commission  on  the  fatal  January  30,  passed,  almost 
as  a  matter  of  course,  from  Fulham  to  Lambeth,  to  the 
universal  satisfaction  of  the  nation.1  But  with  the  weight 
of  seventy-eight  years  upon  him— and  the  last  twenty  of 
them  such  years !— the  good  old  man  could  hardly  be 
expected  to  take  a  very  prominent  part  in  Church  life.  He 
lent  to  the  revived  Church  the  halo  of  a  great  name  round 
which  clustered  many  sad  and  solemn  associations,  but  he 
had  hardly  time  to  do  more  than  sing  his  '  Nunc  dimittis,' 
and  then  rejoin  his  lost  master.  In  1663  he  quietly  passed 
away,  beloved  and  regretted  by  all.2 

Many  other  great  men  only  just  lived  to  see  the 
mighty  change  they  had  so  long  yearned  for,  and  must  be 
regarded  rather  as  survivals  of  the  past,  than  as  actually 
belonging  to  the  period  with  which  we  are  concerned. 
Such  were  Accepted  Frewen,  who,  having  been  deprived 
both  of  his  ecclesiastical  and  his  private  fortune,  died 

1  '  This  day  (September  20,  1660)  was  a  day  of  rejoicing  to  all  that  love 
order  in  the  Church.    For  this  morning,  that  Most  Keverend  Father  William 
(Juxon)  was  translated  from  London  to  Canterbury.'     [Then  follows  much 
praise].     (Public  Intelligencer,  No.  39). 

2  '  June  4,  1663.— Heard  this  day  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Juxon, 
a  man  well-spoken  of  by  all  for  a  good  man,  is  dead  '  (Pepys'  Diary).     Lord 
Campbell  calls  him  '  a  most  kind-hearted,  pious  man,  and  so  inoffensive 
that  even  faction  could  not  find  fault  with  him  '  (Lives  of  Chancellors,  vol. 
iv.  p.  7,  n.)     Lloyd,  '  the  delight  of  the  English  nation,  whose  reverence 
was  the  only  thing   that  all  parties  agreed  on  '   (Memoirs  of  those  that 
Suffered).     See  also  Wilson's  Merchant  Taylors,  p.   670.     Burnet  in  his 
Own  Times  depreciates  Juxon,  for  which  he  is  taken  to  task  by  Nathaniel 
Salmon.     (Lives  of  English  Bishops  &c.  p.  7.) 


1 8          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Archbishop  of  York  in  1664 ;  and  Brian  Walton,  the  pro 
moter  and  sole  editor  of  the  Polyglott  Bible,  who,  having 
been  deservedly  promoted  to  the  see  of  Chester,  died  in 
1661 ;  '  and  Robert  Sanderson,  who  survived  to  be  placed 
at  the  head  of  that  diocese  in  which  he  had  been  suffered 
to  live  in  a  humble  cure  all  through  the  troubles,  and 
died  in  1663;  and  Archbishop  Bramhall,  the  '  Athanasius 
Hibernicus,'  who  died  in  the  same  year;  and  Thomas  Fuller, 
the  quaint  chronicler  of  England's  Worthies,  and  a  worthy 
himself,  who  died  when  honours  were  just  beginning  to  be 
showered  upon  him,  in  1661 ;  and  Brian  Duppa,  who  had  been 
the  constant  attendant  upon  Charles  I.  and  tutor  of  Charles 
II.,  and  who,  if  he  could  not  influence  the  conduct  of  his 
reckless  pupil,  at  least  secured  his  respect,  for  Charles 
kneeled  to  receive  his  blessing  just  before  the  good  Bishop 
of  Winchester's  death  in  1662 ;  and  John  Barwick,  faith- 
fullest  of  faithful  churchmen  through  the  Eebellion,  who 
died  Dean  of  S.  Paul's  in  1664. 

Many  great  churchmen  died,  Moses  like,  while  the 
Church  was  still  in  the  wilderness,  some  having  received, 
and  some  not  quite,  a  Pisgah  view  of  the  promised  land. 
Such  were  Joseph  Hall  (1574-1656),  whose  beautiful  '  Con 
templations  '  are  still  read  and  admired,  and  whose  '  Hard 
Measure,'  giving  a  sufferer's  account  of  his  sufferings,  is 
particularly  valuable,  the  ejected  clergy  not  being  given 
to  parade  their  hardships;  and  Henry  Hammond  (1605- 
1660),  a  model  parish  priest  before  the  troubles  began, 
and  during  the  troubles  one  of  the  mainstays  of  the  royal 
ists  ;  and  Archbishop  Usher  (1580-1656),  most  learned  and 
conciliatory  of  divines,  who,  though  inclined  to  Puritanism 
on  some  points,  suffered  severely  during  the  Puritan  as 
cendency  ;  and  Thomas  Morton  (1563-1659),  the  venerable 
Bishop  of  Durham,  whose  patriarchal  age  seemed  to  be 
prolonged  that  he  might  just  see  the  dawn  of  better  days 

1  See  Todd's  Memoirs  of  Walton.  The  '  Polyglott  '  was  completed  in 
1657. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  19 

for  the  Church  he  had  served  so  long  and  faithfully ;  and 
Ralph  Brownrigg  (1593-1659),  the  brave  bishop  who  dared 
to  exercise  his  episcopal  functions  under  interdict.  These 
and  many  other  famous  men,  if  they  did  not  live  long 
enough  to  see  the  Church  restored,  contributed  greatly 
to  her  reputation.  The  memory  they  left  behind  them, 
and  the  immortal  works  some  of  them  bequeathed  to  pos 
terity,  gave  a  tone  to  the  Kestoration  period,  and  contributed 
in  no  slight  degree  to  make  the  Caroline  age  what,  in  one 
sense  it  certainly  was,  the  golden  age  of  English  theology. 

But  it  is  time  to  pass  on  to  those  who  took  an  active 
part  in  the  Church  life  of  the  period ;  and  among  them  the 
most  influential  was  beyond  all  question  Gilbert  Sheldon 
(1598-1677).  He  was  made  Bishop  of  London;  but,  owing 
to  the  age  and  infirmities  of  Juxon,  he  was  virtually  primate 
from  the  moment  of  the  king's  return,  and  became  actually 
so  on  that  good  old  man's  death.  Taking  the  prominent 
part  he  did  in  politico-ecclesiastical  matters,  there  is  no 
wonder  that  his  character  should  have  been  differently 
described,  according  to  the  different  views  of  the  describers. 
The  discrepancies  between  the  various  estimates  of  him 
are  almost  ludicrous.1  But,  after  all,  it  is  not  very  difficult 
to  reconcile  them.  On  certain  points  all  are  agreed.  His 
munificence  was  unbounded.  He  gave  away,  or  spent  upon 
public  works,  from  the  time  when  he  became  Bishop  of 
London,  a  sum  which,  according  to  the  lowest  estimate, 
amounted  to  62,OOOL,  according  to  the  highest  73,000/., 
either  of  them  an  enormous  sum,  considering  the  value 
of  money  in  those  days.  He  was  a  man  of  undaunted 

1  Mr.  Bevill  Higgon  says,  Burnet  ought  not  to  have  '  dared  to  mention 
Archbishop  Tenison  in  the  same  day  with  so  great  a  man  as  Sheldon.' 
(Remarks  on  Burners  Own  Times,  1736,  ii.  128.)  '  This  Sheldon,  the  most 
virulent  enemy  and  poisoner  of  the  English  Church.'  (S.  T.  Coleridge, 
Notes  on  English  Divines,  ii.  22.)  Burnet  (Own  Times)  says  '  he  seemed 
not  to  have  a  deep  sense  of  religion,  if  any  at  all.'  N.  Salmon  (Lives  of 
English  Bishops,  1733)  calls  this  statement  '  unwarrantable.'  '  His  piety 
was  undoubted.'  (Carwithen,  iii.  172.) 

c  2 


2O          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

courage ;  he  stayed  manfully  at  his  post  at  Lambeth  all 
through  the  Plague ;  he  did  not  shrink  from  rebuking  his 
royal  master,  thereby  forfeiting  the  king's  favour,  which 
he  never  regained.  He  was  a  most  generous  patron  of 
learning;  if  the  prelates  of  the  Eestoration  period  shed 
a  lustre  on  the  Church,  as  they  surely  did,  Sheldon  must  be 
credited  with  much  the  largest  share  in  their  appointment.1 
He  had  obviously  the  gift  of  attaching  his  friends  most 
devotedly  to  him.  He  was  emphatically  a  strong  man, 
with  a  firm  will  of  his  own,  perfectly  straightforward  and 
candid,  without  a  particle  of  cant.  A  man  of  whom  all 
this  can  be  said  has  strong  claims  upon  our  regard.  But 
on  the  other  hand  we  can  gather,  even  from  his  panegy 
rists'  accounts  and  from  his  own  recorded  acts  and  words, 
that  he  was  more  of  a  statesman  than  a  divine,  that  spiritual 
mindedness  was,  to  say  the  least,  not  a  conspicuous  trait  in 
his  character,  that  he  took  a  leading  part  in  the  persecution 
of  nonconformists,  and  that  his  disgust  at  hypocrisy  led  him, 
like  many  others  in  the  anti-puritanical  reaction  of  the 
time,  far  too  much  in  the  opposite  direction. 

There  was  one  other  prelate  who  seemed  at  the  Eestora 
tion  likely  to  rival,  and  more  than  rival,  the  influence  of 
Sheldon.  That  one  was  the  venerable  Bishop  of  Ely, 
Matthew  Wren  (1585-1667),  who  was  liberated  from  his 
eighteen  years'  captivity  in  the  Tower  a  little  before  the 
king's  return.  Clarendon,  who  was  of  course  the  most  in 
fluential  of  laymen,  seems  to  have  regarded  him  as  the  man 
to  whom  the  Church  had  to  look  for  her  resettlement.2 
But  it  was  hardly  likely  that  a  man  in  his  seventy-fifth 

1  '  Archbishop  Sheldon  had  the  keys  of  the  Church  for  a  great  time  in  his 
power,  and  could  admit  into  it  and  keep  out  of  it  whom  he  pleased, — I  mean 
disposed  of  all  ecclesiastical  preferments,'    (Dr.  Pope's  Life  of  Bishop  Setli 
Ward,  1697,  p.  53.)     So  Pepys,  Diary,  September  3,  1602,  '  The  Bishop  of 
London  (Sheldon)  is  now  one  of  the  most  powerful  men  in  England  with 
the  king.' 

2  See  Clarendon's  '  Letter  to  Dr.  Barwick  '  in  Kennet's  Register.     Also 
Bishop  Pearson's  Minor  Works,  ed.  Churton,  ii.  81. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  21 

year,  and  broken  by  captivity,  would  be  vigorous  enough  to 
begin  to  take  the  helm  and  steer  the  ark  through  such 
stormy  waters.  He  seems  quietly  to  have  subsided  into 
his  old  position,  and  is  known  in  his  later. life  chiefly  for 
having  brought  into  notice  his  nephew,  the  most  original 
of  English  architects. 

Very  much  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  eminent  prelate 
who  preached  Wren's  funeral  sermon,  John  Pearson  (1613- 
1686).  The  author  of  the  'Exposition  of  the  Creed  '  added 
one  more  great  name  to  the  distinguished  roll  of  Caroline 
prelates,  but  that  is  all.  He  may  have  been  '  a  much  better 
divine  than  bishop,' 1  or  he  may  have  i  filled  the  bishopric 
of  Chester  with  great  honour  and  reputation ; ' 2  but  from 
the  general  course  of  Church  life  he  certainly  stood 
apart. 

Far  different  was  it  with  John  Cosin  (1595-1671), 
Bishop  of  Durham,  of  whom  his  biographer  says  truly 
'  that  he  will  be  ever  remembered  among  the  most  eminent 
prelates  of  the  English  Church.' 3  At  any  rate,  he  stands 
among  the  very  first  of  the  clergy  of  the  Eestoration  period. 
Others  may  have  had  a  wider  influence ;  for  from  his 
remote  northern  diocese  he  could  hardly  extend  his  influ 
ence  to  the  centre  and  south  of  the  land.  Others  may  have 
been  more  learned,  or  rather,  have  given  more  tangible 
proofs  of  their  learning ;  for  Cosin  was  an  eminently 
learned  man  ;  but  no  one  left  deeper  traces  of  his  influence 
so  far  as  its  sphere  extended.  The  diocese  of  Durham  was 
remarkable  for  its  strong  churchmanship,  in  the  spiritual 
sense  of  the  term,  during  the  whole  of  our  period ;  and  we 
may  very  clearly  trace,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  marks  of 
Bishop  Cosin's  influence.  In  his  own  writings,  and  in  the 
notices  that  are  left  to  us,  the  portrait  of  the  man  is  brought 

1  Burnet's  Own  Times. 

2  Laurence  Echard.     See  Pearson's  Minor   Works,  ed.  Churton,  with 
Memoir  of  Author,  p.  xcvii,  and  Diary  of  Dr.  Worthington,  ed.  J.  Cropley, 
p.  232,  n.     Both  editors  condemn  Burnet  and  agree  with  Echard. 

3  Vita  Joannis  Cosini,  by  Rev.  T.  Smith. 


22          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

very  vividly  before  us  : — a  plain  blunt  man  with  a  definite 
end  in  view,  and  making  straight  for  that  end  without 
turning  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left ;  firm  as  a  rock  in 
his  convictions,  but  by  no  means  cramped  or  narrow ; 
though  a  well-read  divine,  a  man  of  practice  rather  than 
theory  ;  utterly  unselfish,  and  of  undaunted  courage,  he 
was  just  the  sort  of  man  to  play  the  part  he  did  play  both 
in  adversity  and  prosperity.  No  thought  ever  entered  his 
head  of  disguising  in  the  very  least  his  principles ;  and  so 
he  was  the  very  first  to  suffer  for  them.1  Driven  abroad, 
he  was  '  the  Atlas  of  the  Protestant  religion  at  one  of  the 
chief  seats  of  Komanism.' 2  After  the  Eestoration,  while 
others,  as  Pepys  says,  were  '  nibbling  at  the  Common 
Prayer,' 3  he  was  the  very  first  to  use  it  openly  in  its 
entirety.  Eemoved  from  the  deanery  of  Peterborough  to 
the  bishopric  of  Durham,  he  at  once  set  about  the  task  of 
restoring  Church  order ;  and  during  the  ten  years  of  his 
episcopate  succeeded  in  doing  so, — at  least  to  a  greater 
extent  than  any  other  bishop  did.  There  was  no  diocese 
where  conformity  was  so  general,  and  where  the  plain  rules 
of  the  Church  were  more  rigorously  carried  out.4  Such 
a  man  could  of  course  brook  no  obstacles  in  his  way,  and 
as  nonconformity  was  a  very  great  obstacle,  he  dealt  with 

1  See  Carwithen's  History  of  the  Cliurcli  of  England,  vol.  iii.  p.  21,  and 
Perry,  ii.  375,  and  Collier,  viii.  360. 

2  See  Fuller's  Worthies. 

3  Diary  for  November  4,  1GGO. 

4  See,  inter  alia,  Remains  of  Denis  Granville,  Part   II.,  p.   23.      Also 
Correspondence  of  Bishop  Cosin,  Part  II.  passim,  both  published  by  the 
Surtees    Society,   and   Basire's  Funeral    Sermon  on   Cosin,   entitled,   The 
Dead  Mail's  Speech.     A  remarkable  instance  is  given  in  Mr.  Low's  History 
of  the  Diocese  of  Durham  (S.P.C.K.),  p.  285,  note  H,  quoted  from  Archdeacon 
Spark,  who  wrote  in  1746,   '  When,  everywhere   else,   the  surplice  in  the 
pulpit  was  regarded  as   a  badge  of  party,  here,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  the 
gown.     It  is  only  within  the  last  few  years  that  some   zealous   clergymen 
have  introduced  the  gown  in  churches  where  it  was  never  seen  or  heard  of 
before ;  '    and  the  Archdeacon  traces  the  custom  back  to  Bishop   Cosin. 
The  famous  Durham  cope  and  other  vestments  with  which  the  name  of 
Cosin  is  associated  are  another  case  in  point. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  23 

nonconformists  in  far  too  rough  a  fashion  ;  hut  at  the  samo 
time  he  was  a  strong  advocate  of  intercommunion  with 
the  Eeformed  Churches  ahroad.  His  position  at  Durham 
was  that  of  a  prince  as  well  as  a  bishop  ;  and  his  muni 
ficence  was  princely ;  the  account  of  what  he  spent  on 
religious  and  charitable  works  almost  takes  one's  breath 
away.1  He  was  a  man  of  some  asperity  of  temper, 
heightened  no  doubt  by  a  painful  disease  from  which  he 
long  suffered  ;  and  he  was  somewhat  of  a  martinet,  though 
evidently  able  to  secure  the  respect  as  well  as  fear  of  his 
fellow-workers.  Such  was  Bishop  Cosin,  a  great  prelate,  if 
ever  there  was  one  in  the  English  Church. 

Peter  Gunning  (1613-1684)  had  been  as  conspicuous  as 
Cosin  for  his  undisguised  attachment  to  the  Church  during 
the  troubles,  and  after  the  Eestoration  he  was  deservedly 
promoted,  first  to  the  see  of  Chichester,  then  to  that  of  Ely. 
If  not  so  strong,  he  was  a  more  loveable  man  than  Cosin. 
Language  hardly  seems  strong  enough  to  express  the  admi 
ration  his  friends  felt  for  him.  He  is  '  that  learned  and 
pious  man,  Dr.  Gunning; '  '  Dr.  Gunning,  who  can  do  nothing 
but  what  is  well ; '  2  '  that  excellent  man,  Dr.  Gunning ;  ' 3 
'  the  incomparable  Peter  Gunning ; ' 4  '  this  apostolical  man, 
Dr.  Gunning ; ' 5  even  Pepys,  who  does  not  often  praise 
clergymen,  was  favourably  impressed  by  him.6 

It  was  not  so  much  by  his  preaching  or  his  writings, 

1  Basire  says, '  he  spent  above  2.000Z.  a  year  in  pious  uses  '  (Dead  Man's 
Speech  ;  Zouch,  that  '  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  enumerate  the  many  acts 
of  public  beneficence  by  which  Dr.  Cosin  distinguished  himself  during  the 
eleven  years  he  held  the  see  of  Durham  '  (Life  of  Sudbury,  p.  84).     He  was 
styled  '  the  benevolent  Bishop  of  Durham.'     For  a  detailed  account  of  some 
of  his  princely  gifts,  see  his  Correspondence,  Part  II.  passim,  especially  pp. 
169-171. 

2  Evelyn,  Diary,  March  29,  167*,  and  February  23,  16?J. 

3  Sir  John  Beresby,  Travels  &c.,  p.  239. 

4  Peter  Barwick,  Vita  Joannis  Barwick,  p.  22. 

5  Salmon,  Lives  of  Bislwps,  p.  253.     Salmon,  of  course,  belonged  to  the 
next,  but  only  the  next,  generation.     His  Lives  were  published  in  1733. 

6  Diary  for  January  1,  16j£. 


24          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

(though  he  was  eminent  for  both)  as  by  his  dealing  with 
individual  souls  that  Gunning  made  the  deepest  impression. 
Thus  John  Barwick  sent  for  him  to  be  with  him  during  the 
last  three  days  of  his  life,  '  which  he  gave  up  entirely  to 
God  and  the  study  of  private  piety,'  and  received  from  his 
hands  the  last  viaticum.1  Evelyn  *  carried  his  son  to  be  in 
structed  of  him  before  he  received  the  Holy  Sacrament,  when 
he  gave  him  most  excellent  advice.'  «  And  oh,'  he  adds, 
'  that  I  had  been  so  blessed  when  first  I  was  admitted  to  that 
sacred  ordinance  ! ' 2  That  admirable  lady,  Mrs.  Godolphin, 
received  some  of  her  early  instruction  from  Dr.  Gunning, 
'  who  thought  fit  that  she  should  be  admitted  to  the  Holy 
Sacrament  when  hardly  eleven.' 3  And  there  is  something 
really  touching  in  the  way  in  which  Denis  Granville,  when 
he  was  quite  a  middle-aged  man  and  a  dignitary  of  the 
Church  to  boot,  records,  '  I  did  this  evening  unburthen 
my  conscience  to  this  good  bishop  (Gunning),  my  spiritual 
guide,  and  submitted  my  soul  to  his  test  and  examination,' 
&c.  Gunning  took  an  active  part  against  the  Presbyterians 
at  the  Savoy  Conference,  but  his  life  was  so  unblamable 
that  they  could  find  no  reproach  against  him.4  And  his 
strong  churchmanship  did  not  interfere  with  his  Christian 
charity  in  his  private  capacity,  as  his  kindness  to  his  dis 
tinguished  predecessor  at  Cambridge,  Tuckney,  proves.5 
Like  Sheldon  and  Cosin  he  was  extraordinarily  liberal. 
'  Let  the  scholars  he  has  supported  in  the  University  of 
Cambridge,  his  several  large  endowments  and  benefactions 
in  that  place ;  let  the  crowds  of  poor  fed  daily  at  his  door, 
and  from  his  table,  the  widow,  fatherless  and  stranger, 
indigent  foreigners,  distressed  travellers,  publicly  fed,  clothed 

1  Vita  Joannis  Banoiclc,  p.  237.  2  Diary  for  March  29,  1C7?. 

3  Evelyn's  Life  of  Mrs.  Godolphin. 

^  See  Athena  Oxonicnscs,  iv.  140.  Barwick  calls  him  '  Malleus  schis- 
maticorum  '  (Vita  Joannis  Barwick).  Neale  (History  of  the  Puritans,  ii. 
1G8-9)  and  Baxter  of  course  do  not  speak  so  well  of  him  in  consequence. 

5  Athena>  Oxonienses,  ub.  supra,  and  Granger's  Biographical  History 
iii.  249. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  25 

and  relieved,  or  privately  supplied  by  him  with,  a  plentiful 
hand,' l  hear  witness. 

Another  prelate  who  took  a  conspicuous  part  at  the 
Savoy  Conference  was  George  Morley  (1597-1684),  succes 
sively  Bishop  of  Worcester  and  Winchester.  The  active 
portion  of  Morley's  life  belongs  to  an  earlier  period,  although 
he  survived  the  Eestoration  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
In  his  later  life  he  is  chiefly  known  as  the  central  figure 
of  an  interesting  group  at  Winchester,  consisting  of  the 
children  and  grandchildren  of  Izaak  Wralton  (Morley's 
benefactor  during  the  Eebellioii)  and  the  saintly  Ken.2  His 
ready  wit  is  still  remembered  through  more  than  one  bon- 
mot,  and  his  discretion  was  highly  valued  by  Clarendon. 
In  spite  of  an  idle  piece  of  gossip  reported  by  Pepys,3  it  is 
clear  that  Morley  was  a  man  of  great  liberality.  When  he 
was  translated  to  the  wealthy  see  of  Winchester,  it  is  said 
that  King  Charles  foretold  that  he  would  be  none  the  richer 
for  it.4  And  judging  from  the  long  list  of  his  benefactions 
he  could  not  have  been.5  Morley  in  theology  occupied  the 
odd  position  of  a  High  Church  Calvinist,  but  he  was  always 
a  very  moderate  Calvinist,  and  rendered  still  more  so  by  the 
arguments  of  his  friend  Sanderson,  and  his  Calvinism  did 
not  prevent  him  from  taking  as  active  a  part  against  the 
Presbyterians  at  the  Savoy  Conference  as  Sheldon,  Cosin, 
and  Gunning  did  ;  but  his  antagonism  did  not  interfere 
with  his  showing  kindness  to  some  of  his  antagonists.6  He 
was  once  drawn  from  the  privacy  into  which  he  retired,  in 
his  extreme  old  age,  by  Sancroft,  who  persuaded  him  to  join 
in  the  delicate  task  of  attempting  to  bring  back  the  Duke 
of  York  to  the  Church  of  his  baptism.  Possibly  the  fact  of 

1  Sermon  at  Ely  by  Dr.  Gower,  Master  of  S.  John's,  on  Gunning,  soon 
after  his  death. 

2  See  Bowies'  Life  of  Ken,  p.  141. 

3  See  Diary  for  Christmas  Day,  1662. 

4  Salmon,  Lives  of  Bishops,  &c. 

5  For  an  account  of  these  (which  are  too  numerous  to  be  inserted  in  the 
text),  see  Elwes'  Sir  C.  Wren  arid  his  Times,  p.  300. 

B  See  Stoughton's  Church  and  State  Two  Himdred  Years  Ago,  p.  364. 


26          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Morley  having  been  spiritual  guide  to  the  late  Duchess  of 
York  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  the  archbishop's 
request,  but  the  terms  of  Bancroft's  letter  show  that  Morley 's 
high  character  was  the  chief  reason.1 

It  is  but  fair  to  say  that  of  all  the  five  prelates  hitherto 
noticed  the  reader  would  not  derive  so  favourable  impres 
sion  from  the  accounts  of  nonconformists  2  as  he  probably 
will  have  done  from  these  pages.  Not  so  of  John  Earle 
(1601-1665),  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  of  whom  all  men  spoke 
well,  nonconformists  as  well  as  churchmen.  Not  that 
Earle  was  lax  in  his  churchmanship  ;  for  the  sake  of  it  he 
had  suffered  the  loss  both  of  his  preferments  and  his  private 
property  in  the  civil  wars.  He  had  closely  identified  him 
self  with  the  royal  cause,  having  been  tutor  to  Prince 
Charles,  and  having  attended  him  abroad  as  his  chaplain. 
But  he  had  learnt,  what  it  is  hoped  most  men  have  learnt 
now,  that  it  is  impossible  to  force  a  religion  upon  a  man  by 
Act  of  Parliament ;  and  so  he  opposed  with  all  his  might 
the  Five-mile  Act,  and  treated  the  nonconformists  in  his 
diocese  with  the  utmost  courtesy.  There  is  a  ring  about 
the  chorus  of  praise  which  was  lavished  upon  him  which 
proves  that  it  was  not  conventional,  and  the  tenor  of  it 
gives  us  the  secret  of  his  almost  universal  popularity.  '  He 
had,'  writes  one,  '  this  high  and  rare  felicity,  by  his  excellent 
and  spotless  conversation,  to  have  lived  so  many  years  in 
the  Court  of  England,  so  near  his  Majesty,  and  yet  not 
given  the  least  offence  to  any  man  alive,  being  honoured 
and  admired  by  all  who  have  either  known,  heard  or  read 
of  him.' 3  '  Of  Dr.  Earle,'  writes  a  contemporary,  '  I  may 
justly  say  (and  let  it  not  offend  him,  because  it  is  a  truth 

1  See  Correspondence  of  Henry  Hyde,  Earl  of  Clarendon,  and  of  his 
Brother,  &c.,  pp.  465-7. 

2  Such  as  Baxter,  e.g.— It  is  most  unfortunate  that  the  only  full  con 
temporary  account  we  have  of  the  Savoy  Conference  is  from  the  pen  of  one 
who  would  naturally  take  as  unfavourable  a  view  as  possible  of  the  Church 
party,  of  which  the  five  prelates  noticed  above  were  the  most  distinguished 
representatives. 

8  White  Kennet,  Register, 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  27 

which  ought  not  to  be  concealed  from  posterity,  or  those 
that  now  live  and  yet  know  him  not),  that,  since  Mr. 
Hooker  died,  none  have  lived  whom  God  hath  blessed  with 
more  innocent  wisdom,  more  sanctified  learning,  or  a  more 
pious,  peaceable,  primitive  temper,  so  that  this  excellent 
person  seems  to  be  only  like  himself,  or  our  venerable 
Kichard  Hooker ' !  '  This  Dr.  Earle,'  writes  another,  a  few 
years  after  Earle's  death,  '  was  a  person  certainly  of  the 
sweetest,  most  obliging  nature  that  lived  in  our  age.'2 
And  to  turn  to  a  different  class  of  testimony,  Pierce,  the 
friend  of  nonconformists,  declares  that  '  Dr.  Earle  was  a 
person  who  could  do  good  against  evil,  forgive  much,  and 
of  a  charitable  heart.' 3  And  Baxter  writes  to  him  that  '  he 
had  frequently  heard  that  in  charity  and  gentleness  and 
peaceableness  of  mind,  he  was  very  eminent,' 4  and  notes 
on  Earle's  reply,  '  Oh  that  they  were  all  such  !  '  What 
makes  this  praise  the  more  striking  is  that  it  was  written  to 
and  of  a  man  who  had  the  knack  of  writing  in  a  satirical 
vein,  than  which  nothing  is  more  apt  to  make  enemies.5 
In  reading  it  all  we  can  hardly  help  thinking  of  the  warning 
to  those  of  whom  all  men  speak  well,  and  so  it  is  almost 
with  a  sense  of  relief  that  we  read  that  he  died  '  to  the  no 
great  sorrow  of  those  who  reckoned  his  death  was  just  for 
labouring  against  the  Five-mile  Act.'6  He  was  a  most 
intimate  friend  of  Bishop  Morley. 

Another  prelate  who  was  universally  esteemed  was 
John  Hacket  (1592-1670),  Bishop  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry, 
who  is  justly  described  by  the  latest  editor  of  his  life,  as 
'  one  of  the  most  illustrious  prelates  of  the  great  Caroline 
age.'  7  His  energy,  consistency,  and  courage  during  the 

1  Walton,  Life  of  Hoolcer. 

2  H.  Cressy  to  a  '  Person  of  Quality  '  (Lord  Clarendon),  written  in  1674. 

3  Conformists'1  Pica  for  Nonconformity  (1681). 

4  Letter  to  Earle,  1662.  5  See  his  Microcosmography,  passim. 
fi  Conformists'  Plea,  p.  35. 

7  The  Rev.  Mackenzie  E.  Walcott,  who,  among  the  many  services  he  has 
rendered  to  the  historian  of  the  Church  of  England,  has  republished  in  our 


28          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Rebellion  have  been  referred  to.  After  the  Restoration 
he  refused  the  bishopric  of  Gloucester,1  but  subsequently 
accepted  that  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry,  chiefly,  it  would 
seem,  because  there  was  an  inordinate  amount  of  work  to 
be  done  there.  No  prelate  in  his  prime  could  have  worked 
harder  than  this  grand  old  man.  How  he  restored  his 
ruined  cathedral  by  'barefaced  begging/ 2  setting  a  noble 
example  of  liberality  himself,  how  he  stirred  up  his  clergy 
to  work  by  going  incessantly  among  them,  and  preaching 
in  every  part  of  his  diocese,  how  loyally  he  defended  them 
in  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  how  lavishly  he  gave  of  his 
substance,  being  '  resolved  to  dispense  his  own  in  his  lifetime 
and  not  be  like  the  whale  that  affords  no  oil  till  she  die  and 
must  disgorge  it,'  how,  in  spite  of  his  strong  aversion  to 
nonconformity,  he  would  help  nonconformists  and  '  persons 
with  whom  he  had  no  Christian  communion  but  in  this  one 
thing  of  giving,'  how  he  died  in  harness,  his  last  work  being 
the  hanging  of  a  great  bell  in  his  cathedral,  which,  as  he 
himself  predicted,  first  tolled  for  his  own  death,  all  this  will 
be  found  recorded  in  the  lively  pages  of  Dr.  Plume,  his  friend 
and  biographer.3  But,  lest  the  testimony  of  an  admiring 
biographer  should  be  suspected  of  partiality,  it  may  be  added 
that  the  energy  and  high  reputation  of  the  good  bishop  are 
equally  admitted  by  less  suspicious  witnesses.  In  1666  the 
Corporation  of  Lichfield,  in  a  letter  to  Elias  Ashmole,  speak 
of  '  our  ruined  cathedral,  which  by  the  unwearied  labour, 
prudence,  and  piety  of  our  good  bishop,  a  second  Cedda, 
and  the  charity  of  yourself  and  others  happily  deposited  in 
his  hands,  is  (almost  to  a  miracle)  so  well  and  so  soon 


day  (1865),  Dr.  T.  Plume's  Life  and  Death  of  John  IlacJcet,  &c.,  prefixed  to 
his  Century  of  Sermons. 

1  His  answer  to  the  King  and  the  Chancellor  (Hyde)  was  epigrammatic ; 
'  he  had  rather,'  he  said,  '  future  times  should  ask  why  Dr.  Hacket  had  not 
a  bishopric,  than  why  he  had  one.' 

2  Roger  North,  Lives  of  the  Norths. 

3  See  also  Browne  Willis'  Cathedrals,  p.  378. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  29 

restored  again.' l  Eoger  North  bears  an  amusing  testimony 
to  the  importunity  of  the  bishop  in  behalf  of  his  cathedral, 
and  the  admirable  order  of  the  services  in  it,  when  it  was 
restored.2  Perhaps  the  secret  of  Hacket's  wonderful  energy 
to  the  very  last  may  be  found  in  his  favourite  motto, 
'  Serve  God  and  be  cheerful ; ' 3  the  same  motto  was  a 
favourite  with  Sheldon ;  no  doubt  it  found  special  favour  in 
days  when  the  reaction  against  Puritanism  was  so  strong. 
It  certainly  might  have  been  adopted  by  the  next  eminent 
prelate  who  comes  before  us. 

Seth  Ward  (1618-1689),  successively  Bishop  of  Exeter 
and  Salisbury,  was  more  fortunate  than  most  of  his  brethren 
during  the  troubles  ;  for,  though  ejected  from  Cambridge 
for  refusing  to  take  the  Covenant,  he  found  a  home  at 
Oxford  as  Savilian  Professor  of  Astronomy,  not,  however, 
without  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  existing  Govern 
ment.  In  some  respects  he  resembled  Sheldon ;  both  owed 
their  advancement  not  altogether  to  their  theological  at 
tainments ;  both  were  eminent  for  their  social  qualities; 
both  are  reported  to  have  been  very  harsh  in  their  treat 
ment  of  nonconformists,  Ward  to  the  extent  of  injuring  the 
trade  of  Salisbury  by  driving  people  away  to  Holland,4 
though  it  is  only  fair  to  add  that  there  is  said  to  be  no 
evidence  of  this,  either  in  the  episcopal  documents  or  those 
of  the  city  of  Salisbury,  and  that  the  report  rests  simply 
on  the  authority  of  some  anonymous  chroniclers.5  The 
extraordinary  story  of  his  promotion  to  the  see  of  Exeter 
through  the  influence  of  his  lay  friends,6  his  hospitable 
entertainment  of  all  the  hunting  field  when  the  hunt  was 

1  See  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  that  Learned  Antiquary,  Elias  Ashmole, 
drawn  up  by  himself  by  way  of  Diary  (1717). 

2  Lives  of  the  Norths,  i.  144. 

3  This  maxim  was  appropriately  engraven  on  his  tomb. 

4  Diocesan  History  of  Salisbury,  by  Kev.  W.  H.  Jones  (S.P.C.K.) 

5  Hatcher's  History  of  Salisbury,  quoted  in  Some  Particulars  of  the  Life, 
Habits  and  Pursuits  of  Seth  Ward,  1879. 

6  The  story  is  too  long  to  be  inserted,  but  it  will  be  found  in  Aubrey's 


30          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

in  his  neighbourhood,  his  own  fondness  for  this  and  other 
athletic  sports,  his  freedom  and  affability  '  to  his  meanest 
curates,' l  the  evidently  jovial  character  of  his  admirer,  bio 
grapher,  and  avowed  imitator,  Dr.  Pope,2  all  tell  the  same 
tale,  the  tale  of  a  manly,  free-handed,  light-hearted  prelate, 
rather  too  much  of  the  secular  type,  but  most  acceptable, 
if  for  no  other  reason,  as  affording  an  agreeable  relief  to 
the  reign  of  saints.  But  there  were  other  reasons.  His 
munificence  was  splendid ;  he  was  largely  instrumental  in 
restoring  the  cathedral  at  Exeter,  and  (so  far  as  it  was  re 
quired)  at  Salisbury,  where  he  also  founded  a  '  College  of 
Matrons'  for  the  widows  of  clergymen;  he  had  a  high 
reputation  as  a  preacher;  his  scientific  attainments  were 
undeniable,  and  in  a  famous  lament  over  the  great  dead, 
which  is  attributed  to  Ken,  his  name  is  coupled  with  the 
honoured  names  of  Hall,  Usher,  Hammond,  and  Sanderson, 
and  he  is  thus  apostrophised,  'Where  is  thy  unaffected 
modesty,  fixed  integrity,  immoveable  fidelity,  unerring  capa 
city,  and  extensive  charity,  0  bounteous  Ward  !  ' 3 

The  last  three  prelates  were  all  remarkably  popular. 
Let  us  turn,  by  way  of  contrast,  to  one  who  is  now  chiefly 
known  as  a  proverbial  instance  of  unaccountable  unpopu 
larity. 

'  I  do  not  like  thee,  Doctor  Fell, 

The  reason  why  I  cannot  tell, 

But  this  I  know  full  well, 

I  do  not  like  thee,  Doctor  Fell.' 

Everybody  knows  these  lines,  but  everybody  may  not  know 
that  the  person  here  gibbeted  was  Dean  of  Christ  Church, 

Letters,  iii.  574-5,  and  quoted  in  Worthington's  Diary,  vol.  xiii.  of  Chetham 
Society,  p.  302  note. 

1  '  The  meanest  curates  were  welcome  to  his  table,  and  he  never  failed  to 
drink  to  them,  and  treat  them  with  all  affability  and  kindness  imaginable.' 
(Life  of  Seth  Ward,  &c.,  by  Dr.  Walter  Pope,  1697.) 

2  Dr.  Pope's  Life,  though  most  graphic  and  amusing,  is  by  no  means 
trustworthy  in  all  points,— notably  in  all  that  concerns  Isaac  Barrow. 

»  Expostulatoria,or  Complaint  of  the  Church  of  Englaiul,  printed  1711. 
The  evidence  of  its  being  Ken's  is  not  conclusive. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  ^>r 

o 

distinguished  even  among  the  distinguished  roll  of  men  who 
have  filled  that  great  post,  and  Bishop  of  Oxford.  John 
Fell  (1625-1686)  was  son  of  that  Samuel  Fell,  also  Dean 
of  Christ  Church,  who  together  with  his  wife  stood  out  so 
holdly  and  suffered  so  much  during  the  civil  wars.1  He' 
had  therefore  an  hereditary  right  on  both  sides  to  be  a 
staunch  churchman,  and  so  he  was.  Next  to  Dr.  Busby,  he 
had  perhaps  more  to  do  with  the  training  of  rising  church 
men  than  any  man  living.  Christ  Church,  in  his  time,  rose 
to  the  zenith  of  its  fame  and  prosperity,  and  the  Dean  was 
the  heart  and  soul  of  Christ  Church.  It  is  unfortunate  for 
the  reputation  of  Dr.  Fell  that  his  name  is  inseparably 
connected  with  the  expulsion  of  the  greatest  man  that  even 
Christ  Church  could  boast,  John  Locke.  But  are  he  and  the 
canons  quite  justly  blamed  for  this  sad  fiasco  ?  They  were 
but  carrying  out  the  king's  mandate,  which  if  they  had  not 
carried  out,  they  would  assuredly  have  been  expelled  them 
selves.  At  any  rate  Feil  was  a  most  successful  ruler  of  the 
'  House.'  A  successful,  but  not  a  popular  one.  '  The  cause 
of  Fell's  well-known  unpopularity,'  it  has  been  said,  *  re 
mains  a  mystery  to  the  present  time.' 2  But  surely  the 
cause  is  not  far  to  seek.  The  Dean  set  himself  resolutely 
to  curb  within  due  bounds  the  wild  license  of  the  young 
'  bloods  '  of  the  Eestoration.  It  would  have  been  more  of 
a  '  mystery  '  if  he  had  won  popularity  in  the  execution  of 
such  a  task.  And  the  explanation  is  not  a  mere  conjecture. 
It  is  implied  by  a  contemporary.  '  He  had  much  zeal/  writes 
Burnet,  'for  reforming  abuses;  and  managed  it  perhaps 
with  too  much  heat,  and  in  too  peremptory  a  way.  But  we 
have  so  little  of  that  among  us,  that  no  wonder  if  such  men 
are  censured  by  those  who  love  not  such  patterns  nor  such 
severe  taskmasters.' 3  A  member  of  Christ  Church  to  whom 

1  See   Walker's   Sufferings  of  the   Clergy,  and  Neal's  History  of  the 
Puritans. 

2  Diocesan  Histonj  of  Oxford,  E.  Marshall  (S.P.C.K.),  p.  150. 

3  Own  Times,  book  iv.,  under  1686. 


32  LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

the  Dean  was  most  kind,  intimates  that  he  did  not  brook 
opposition.1  The  well-known  story  of  his  summoning  the 
undergraduates  to  take  up  arms  for  the  Crown  in  the  Mori- 
mouth  rebellion,  when  Christ  Church  alone  furnished  near 
a  hundred  pikemen  and  musketeers,2  is  another  instance  of 
his  promptitude  and  resoluteness.  But  perhaps  it  would 
have  been  a  still  more  pleasing  sight  to  see  him  kneeling 
by  the  bedside  of  that  poor  penitent  libertine,  the  Earl  of 
Rochester,  whom  he  helped  to  snatch  as  a  brand  from  the 
burning.3  When  he  was  made  Bishop  of  Oxford  in  1675, 
1  he  had  liberty  to  hold  the  Deanery  in  commendam,  that  so 
excellent  a  governor  should  not  be  lost  to  the  college  ; '  and 
as  he  appears  to  have  performed  his  duty  energetically  in 
both  offices,  we  are  not  surprised  to  learn  that  he  was  said 
to  have  been  '  worn  out  with  pains  and  care  employed  for 
the  public.' 4  Like  so  many  other  prelates  we  have  noticed, 
he  was  most  liberal,  almost  lavish,  in  his  benefactions,5  and 
the  terms  of  enthusiastic  regard  in  which  he  is  spoken  of 
by  contemporary,  and  almost  contemporary  writers,  prove 
that  there  were  many  whose  good  opinion  was  worth  having, 
who  did  like  thee,  Dr.  Fell.6 

1  See  the  most  interesting  Autobiography  &c.  of  William  Taswell,  edited 
by  G.  P.  Elliott.     '  The  Dean,  hearing  of  my  father's  ill-treatment  of  me, 
frequently  made  me  a  present  of  21.,  telling  me  it  was  designed  as  a  reward 
of  merit,  but  I  afterwards  offended  him  by  voting  against  his  candidate  for 
Public  Orator.' 

2  See  Macaulay's  History  of  England,  chap,  v.,  p.  290. 

3  See  Life  of  John  (Wilmot),  Earl  of  Rochester,  by  Bishop  Burnet,  p.  315. 

4  Nathaniel  Salmon's  Lives  of  the  English  Bishops  from  the  Ecstaura- 
tion  to  the  Revolution  (published  1733),  p.  316. 

5  The  biographer  of  Prideaux  says  that  '  for  his  buildings  and  other 
benefactions  he  might  be  esteemed  a  second  founder  of  Christ  Church.'    He 
'  took  upon  him  the  whole  charge  of  the  impression  of  Bull's  Defensio  Fidei 
NiccBiice  (Nelson),  p.  164,    and   helped  Anthony   Wood   to   bring   out   his 
Historiaet  Antiqtdtates  Universitatis  Oxoniensis.    (Life  of  Prideaux,  p.  95. 
He  rebuilt  the  Palace  at  Cuddesdon  (Salmon). 

6  '  That  great  promoter  of  learning  and  piety,  Bishop  Fell.'    (R.  Nelson, 
Life  of  Bishop  Bull,  p.  164.)     '  In   all  respects  a  most  exemplary  man.' 
(Burnet,  Own  Times,  book  iv.  of  1686.)     '  Deserving  a  character  too  great 
to  be  attempted  here.'    (Salmon,  Lives  of  Bishops  &c.,  316.)     '  An  eminent 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  33 

John  Dolben  (1624-1686),  is  a  name  inseparably  asso 
ciated  with  that  of  John  Fell,  his  fellow-helper  in  the  Church 
services  at  Oxford  during  the  Rebellion.  Dolben  had  a  wide 
and  varied  experience  of  life.  He  had  fought  with  distinction 
in  the  royal  army,  had  been  an  ensign  at  Marston  Moor, 
was  grievously  wounded  in  the  siege  of  York,  and  was 
advanced  to  the  rank  of  major ; l  after  the  surrender  of 
Oxford  he  returned  to  Christ  Church  and  received  Holy 
Orders.  After  the  Restoration  his  advance  was  rapid.  He 
was  made  successively  Canon  of  Christ  Church,  Archdeacon 
of  London,  Dean  of  Westminster,  and  Bishop  of  Rochester, 
and  finally  Archbishop  of  York.  Perhaps  the  fact  of  his 
having  married  Sheldon's  niece  was  no  hindrance  to  his 
promotion,  but  he  deserved  it  by  his  merits.  He  was  a 
man  of  great  benevolence,  generosity,  and  candour,2  noted 
both  at  Westminster  and  York  as  an  excellent  preacher, 
'  very  conversible  and  popular,  and  such  every  way  as  gave 
him  a  mighty  advantage  of  doing  much  good.3  When 
Laurence  Hyde,  Earl  of  Rochester,  was  advanced  to  the 
post  of  High  Treasurer,  Dolben  wrote  to  him,  '  I  can  say 
no  fine  things,  and  I  will  say  no  false  ones ; 4  and  this  exactly 
represented  the  character  of  the  frank  soldier  prelate. 
Taswell  gives  a  curious  proof  of  the  retention  of  his  military 
instincts,  telling  us  how  as  Dean  of  Westminster  he  marched 
out  the  Westminster  scholars  (Taswell  himself  being  one) 

encourager  of  learning,  excellent  governor  of  his  college,  and  of  exemplary 
conduct  in  his  episcopal  character.'  (Birch,  Life  of  Tillotson,  p.  95.)  '  Good 
Bishop  Fell  was  for  his  piety,  learning  and  wisdom  esteemed  one  of  the 
most  eminent  prelates  of  his  time.'  (Life  of  Dean  HumpJirey  Prideaux, 
published  1748,  p.  19.) 

1  J.  Le  Neve's  Lives  &c.  of  Bisliops,  &c. ;  see  also  Life  of  Harwich,  with 
notes,  by  Hilkiah  Bedford. 

2  See  Athence  Oxonienses,  iv.  188. 

3  Hickes  to  Comber,  on  Dolben's    appointment  to  the  archbishopric. 
(Memoirs  of  Comber,  p.  189.)    Comber  himself  speaks  most  highly  of  him  as  a 
1  prelate  of  great  presence,  ready  parts,  grateful  conversation,  and  wondrous 
generosity.'     (Ibid.  p.  212.) 

4  Correspondence  of  Laurence  Hyde,  i.  124. 


34          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

during  *  the  Great  Fire,'  and  did  yeoman's  service  in  stifling 
the  conflagration.1  He  died  of  smallpox,  after  having  held 
the  archbishopric  only  three  years,  hut  Comber  thinks  his 
death  was  hastened  by  his  grief  at  the  sad  prospect  for  the 
Church  under  the  Romanising  efforts  of  James  II.2 

There  yet  remains  to  be  noticed  one,  who  was  in  many 
respects  the  greatest  of  all  the  prelates  of  the  Kestoration 
period,  Jeremy  Taylor  (1613-1667),  Bishop  of  Down  and 
Connor,  and  afterwards  of  Dromore.  Strictly  speaking,  he 
scarcely  comes  within  our  range,  for  at  the  Restoration  he 
was  at  once  removed  to  the  sister  Church  of  Ireland.  Why 
the  Church  of  England  did  not  keep  one  of  the  greatest  of 
her  sons  at  home  is  not  clear.  The  fact  that  he  married 
Joanna  Bridges,  who  was  possibly,  but  by  no  means  certainly, 
the  natural  sister  of  Charles  II.,3  seems  a  very  inadequate 
reason  for  his  banishment ;  if  the  report  be  true  that 
Sheldon  was  not  his  friend,  that  would  be  a  far  more 
likely  cause  ;  but  wherever  the  fault  lay,  it  was  surely  a 
grievous  mistake  to  send  beyond  the  sea  one  who  is  truly 
said  to  have  had  '  devotion  enough  for  a  cloister,  learning 
enough  for  an  university,  and  wit  enough  for  a  college  of 
virtuosi.' 4  What  makes  it  all  the  more  provoking  is  that 
the  people  in  his  remote  Irish  diocese  do  not  seem  to  have 
appreciated  as  they  ought  to  have  done  the  treasure  that 
was  thrown  away  among  them,  and  one  can  quite  under 
stand  how  his  sensitive  and  refined  spirit  would  recoil  from 
the  coarseness  of  the  Cameronian  Presbyterians  by  whom 
he  was  surrounded.  Of  course  one  with  whom  '  duty  was  a 
delight  and  piety  a  passion,'5  would  find  work  to  do  for  God 

1  Autobiography  of  Dr.  TaswelL 

2  Memoirs  of  Dean  Comber,  by  his  great-grandson,  p.  212. 

3  The  relationship  is  said  to  rest  on  the  sole  authority  of  the  MS.  of 
Mr.  Jones,  a  descendant  of  Taylor's.    (See  Quarterly  Review  for  July  1871, 
art.  '  Jeremy  Taylor.')     Mr.  Jones's  paper  fell  into  the  hands  of  Heber, 
Taylor's  biographer. 

4  Rust's  Funeral  Sermon  on  Taylor. 

5  Heber's  Life,  prefixed  to  his  edition  of  Taylor's  Works,  p.  cxxvi 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  35 

wherever  lie  went.  He  undertook  at  his  own  expense  the 
rebuilding  of  Dromore  Cathedral,1  or  at  least  the  choir  of 
it;  he  spent  almost  all  his  income  on  alms  and  public 
works ;  but  for  one  '  who  liked  not  to  be  pushed  at  by  herds 
and  flocks  of  people  that  follow  anybody  that  whistles  to 
them  or  drives  them  to  pasture,'  an  Irish  bishopric  must 
have  been  a  sadly  uncongenial  sphere.  He  will  come 
before  us  again  as  a  preacher,  a  casuist,  and  a  devotional 
writer. 

One  hardly  knows  where  to  draw  the  line  in  selecting 
typical  specimens  of  the  great  prelates  of  the  Caroline  age. 
There  is  Bishop  Wilkins,  who,  though  he  certainly  cannot 
be  reckoned  among  the  consistent  and  heroic  type  of  church 
men,  was  eminent  in  many  ways  :— for  his  great  scientific 
attainments,  for  his  tolerance  in  an  intolerant  age,  for  his 
liberality,  for  his  general  kindliness,  and  especially  for  his 
kindness  to  royalists  and  churchmen  in  perilous  times, 
though  he  did  not  cast  in  his  lot  with  them.2  There  is  Bishop 
Skinner,  conspicuous  for  his  courage  in  conferring  Holy 
Orders  during  the  Bebellion,3  who  said  with  truth  that  he 
had  sent  more  labourers  into  the  Master's  vineyard  than 
any  other  bishop.  There  is  Bishop  Henchman,  who  held 
the  important  see  of  London  for  eleven  years  (1664-1675), 
and  of  whom  nothing  but  good  is  recorded.  There  is  Arch 
bishop  Sterne,  whom  Swift  calls  '  a  sour,  ill-tempered  man,' 
but  Walker  'a  man  of  eminent  worth,'4  and  whom  Lord 

1  Heber,  p.  cxxviii. 

2  See  Life  of  Dr.  John  Wilkins,  prefixed  to  his  works  (1708)  passim.     It 
was  through  his  exertions  that  Barrow  was  chosen  Gresham  Professor  of 
Geometry.     (See  Quarterly  Review   for  July  1869.)     Newcome  (Diary  for 
November  22,  1672)  calls  him  the  learned,  worthy,  pious  and  peaceable 
Bishop  of  Chester ;  Bull,  '  our  excellent  Bishop  Wilkins.'     (Charge  to  the 
Clergy  of  S.  Davids,  1708.)     Seth  Ward  is  said  to  have  been  '  attracted  to 
Wadham  by  the  fame  of  the  Warden,  Dr.  Wilkins,  a  great  favourite  with 
royalist  gentlemen  '  (in  the  Rebellion) .     (Some  Particulars  of  the  Life  dc. 
of  Bishop  Seth  Ward.} 

3  See  Nelson's  Life  of  Bishop  Bull,  p.  89  ;  Life  of  Robert  Frampton, 
Bishop  of  Gloucester,  p.  11 ;  Walker's  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  p.  55. 

4  Sufferings  £c.,  p.  196. 

D  2 


36  LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Dartmouth  indignantly  vindicates  from  Swift's  aspersions. 
There  is  Bishop  Isaac  Barrow,  whose  fame  is  eclipsed  by 
that  of  his  more  illustrious  namesake  and  nephew,  but  who 
has  left  more  than  one  monument  of  his  liberality,2  and 
who,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  for  a  long  time  '  the  guide, 
philosopher,  and  friend  '  of  the  great  Isaac.  There  is  Bishop 
Nicolson  of  Gloucester,  laudatus  a  laudato  viro,  for  Bishop 
Bull  '  was  always  a  singular  admirer  of  that  condescension 
and  familiarity,  of  that  truly  paternal  care,  which  he  found 
in  this  good  bishop,  who  by  his  learned  writings  had 
defended  and  maintained  the  Church  of  England  against 
her  adversaries,  when  she  was  under  a  cloud;  and  after 
she  had  rode  out  the  storm,  did  not  omit  to  do  all  that 
became  an  excellent  prelate  for  supporting  the  Catholic 
faith  and  discipline  professed  in  her  communion.'  He  died 
(1672)  with  the  reputation  of  a  truly  primitive  bishop.3 

But  it  is  high  time  to  remember  that  there  were  other 
clergy  who  never  rose  to  the  episcopal  dignity — some  to 
no  dignity  at  all — but  yet  added  lustre  to  the  Restoration 
period. 

A  native  of  Louth,  Lincolnshire,  may  be  pardoned  for 
giving  the  first  place  among  them  to  one  who  was  born  in  a 
neighbouring  village  (Scamblesby).  Apart  from  local  pre 
judice,  it  would  be  hard  to  find  one  more  distinguished  for 
learning  and  piety  than  Herbert  Thorndike  (d.  1672).  Peter 
Barwick  mentions  him  among  his  three  palmary  instances 
of  men  '  who  with  incomparable  sanctity  of  life  have 
adorned  the  worst  age,  altogether  worthy  of  a  better.' 4  He 
was  a  fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  but  was  deprived 
at  the  Eebellion.  At  the  Restoration  he  recovered  his 
fellowship  and  was  also  made  Prebendary  of  Westminster. 
Between  Cambridge  and  Westminster  he  passed  the  re- 

1  Lord  Dartmouth's  notes  on  Burnet's  Own  Times. 

2  He  improved  the  Cathedral  and  Palace  at  S.  Asaph,  built  almshouses,  &c. 
8  Nelson's  Life  of  Bull,  p.  135. 

4  Vita  Joannis  Barwick,  p.  235. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  37 

mainder  of  his  days,  living  in  blameless  retirement,  but  still 
doing  good  service  to  the  Church  with  his  pen.  Next  to 
Walton  he  had  the  largest  hand  in  producing  the  Polyglott 
Bible.  He  was  a  stiff  churchman,  but  extorted  by  the 
guileless  simplicity  of  his  character  the  respect  of  his  oppo 
nents.1  He  will  come  before  us  again  as  a  writer,  though 
many  of  his  works,  being  of  a  controversial  nature,  do  not 
come  within  our  scope. 

Another  name  mentioned  by  Barwick  as  a  typical  in 
stance  of  '  the  best  clergy  '  is  that  of  Barnabas  Oley  (d. 
1666),  who  rose  to  the  dignity  of  President  of  Clare  Hall, 
Cambridge,  before  the  Rebellion,  but,  being  a  most  unflinch 
ing  churchman,  of  course  lost  his  preferment  by  that  event. 
After  the  Restoration  he  held  the  living  of  Great  Gransden 
and  a  prebend  at  Worcester  Cathedral ;  he  was  also  for  a 
short  time  Archdeacon  [of  Ely  ?]  but  soon  gave  it  up,  find 
ing  the  work  incompatible  with  his  other  duties.  We  have 
an  interesting  instance  of  the  respect  and  affection  with  which 
he  was  regarded  by  the  parishioners  of  Great  Gransden,  in 
the  letters  of  one  of  them  to  the  Bishop  of  Ely  (Turner). 
The  bishop  had  requested  a  Mr.  Cesar  to  inquire  into  the 
state  of  affairs  in  the  church  of  the  neighbouring  parish  of 
Little  Gransden,  which  was  unsatisfactory,  and  the  writer 
replies  that  he  could  not  attend  the  church  personally 
because  '  good  Mr.  Oley  hath  taught  us  in  Great  Gransden 
that  it  is  our  duty  to  keep  our  own  parish  church.'  A  little 
later  he  writes  again,  '  Since  the  death  of  our  late  reverend 
vicar  we  are  very  sensible  of  that  great  and  inestimable  loss 
of  Mr.  Barnabas  Oley.' 2  This  testimony  is  borne  out  by  a 
letter  from  a  Mr.  R.  Burton  to  Dean  Granville.  '  I'm  told,' 

1  See  Dr.  Stoughton's  Church  of  the  Restoration,  i.  35.     May  I  take  this 
opportunity  of  thanking  one  who  differs  most  widely  from  my  views,  for  the 
fairness  which  he  has  always  studied  to  show  to  churchmen?     See  also 
Professor  Brewer's  edition  of  Thorndike's  Discourse  of  the  Right  of  the 
Church  in  a  Christian  Commonwealth. 

2  Quoted  in  Miss  Strickland's  Lives  of  the  Seven  Bishops,  &c.,  pp.  180 
and  184. 


38          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

he  writes,  '  that  this  day  your  friend  Mr.  Barnabas  Oley 
is  to  be  bury'd.  His  parishioners  are  already  extreme  sen 
sible  of  their  loss  of  that  reverend  and  eminently  worthy, 
good  man.' l  Oley  seems  to  have  been  as  active  at  Wor 
cester  as  at  Gransden ;  the  weekly  celebration  of  the  Holy 
Communion  at  the  Cathedral  was  brought  about  by  his 
means.  He  gives  us  an  interesting  insight  into  his  own 
character  in  the  preface  to  his  third  edition  of  George 
Herbert's  '  Country  Parson,'  the  first  edition  of  which  he 
had  the  courage  to  put  forth  in  1652,  when  such  a  work 
would  be  anything  but  acceptable.  Altogether,  though  now 
little  known,  Barnabas  Oley  was  a  striking  figure  among 
the  clergy  of  his  day,  and  Mr.  Shorthouse  has'  nowhere 
shown  better  his  remarkable  knowledge  of  the  Church  life 
of  the  period  than  when  he  introduces  him  upon  the  scene 
in  his  famous  romance.2 

If  the  clergy  of  the  period  were  ranged  according  to 
their  intellectual  eminence,  the  very  first  place, — above 
archbishops  and  bishops, — would  have  to  be  given  to  Isaac 
Barrow  (1630-1677),  who  in  his  comparatively  short  life  won 
distinction  in  various  departments,  any  one  of  which  would 
have  been  sufficient  to  render  a  man  famous.  A  Cambridge 
man,  like  the  two  last  we  have  noticed,  he  did  not,  like  them, 
suffer  from  the  Rebellion.  Being  only  an  undergraduate 
when  it  broke  out,  he  was  allowed  to  remain  at  the  Univer 
sity  though  he  made  no  secret  of  his  royalist  opinions ;  and 
so  from  his  boyhood  to  his  death  he  made  Cambridge  his 
home,  and  rose  to  the  highest  position  which  that  University 
affords — the  Mastership  of  Trinity.  His  scholarship  caused 
him  to  be  made  Professor  of  Greek,  his  mathematical  know 
ledge  to  be  the  first  Lucasian  Professor  of  Mathematics,  and 
his  general  scientific  attainments  to  be  Professor  of  Geometry 
at  Gresham  College,  London.  But  all  his  other  acquirements 
were  subservient  to  the  study  of  divinity,  to  which  he 

1  Remains  of  Dean  Granville  (Surtees  Miscellanea),  Part  I.  p.  212. 
'2  See  John  Inglcsant,  last  chapter. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  39 

devoted  the  whole  of  the  later  part  of  his  life,  resigning  his 
professorships  one  by  one  for  this  purpose.  His  mathe 
matical  professorship  at  Cambridge  he  resigned  in  favour 
of  his  still  more  distinguished  pupil,  Isaac  Newton ;  and 
among  his  many  merits,  not  the  least  is,  that  he  was  the 
first  to  recognise  and  train  the  extraordinary  powers  of  that 
great  man,  and— hardest  task  of  all,— to  own  gracefully  his 
superiority  to  himself.  As  a  writer  of  controversial  divinity 
Barrow  ranks  in  the  highest  order,  and  as  a  preacher,  if 
possible,  higher  still.  Personally  he  was  the  most  loveable 
of  men,  modest,  retiring,  and  full  of  guileless  simplicity, 
qualities  which  are  not  rare  in  men  of  the  highest  intellec 
tual  attainments.  Scholar-like,  he  was  very  absent-minded, 
and  careless  about  his  personal  appearance  ;  many  ludicrous 
stories,  more  or  less  true,  but  not  worth  repeating  here,  are 
told  about  these  points.  To  complete  the  account  of  this 
prodigy,  it  may  be  added  that  his  physical  strength  was 
almost  equal  to  his  intellectual,  and  his  courage  equal  to 
his  strength.  Short-lived  as  he  was,  he  was,  oddly  enough, 
a  connecting  link  between  two  generations,  and  two  utterly 
different  types  of  men  ;  for  he  was  mainly  supported  in  his 
youth  at  college  by  Henry  Hammond,  and  he  lived  to  be 
the  friend  of  John  Tillotson,  who  edited  his  works.  His  wide 
culture  and  sympathies,  and  his  amiable  temper,  enabled 
him  to  live  in  perfect  amity  with  both  ;  he  took  an  inde 
pendent  and  perfectly  definite  line  of  his  own,  so  that  it  is 
difficult  to  label  him  as  belonging  to  any  particular  Church 
party ;  all  that  one  can  say  is,  that  he  was  from  first  to  last 
a  loyal  English  churchman,  and  one  of  whom  the  English 
Church  may  well  be  proud.1 

1  It  would  far  transcend  the  limits  of  this  work  to  enter  into  any  details 
of  the  life  and  writings  of  this  remarkable  man.  May  I  therefore  venture 
to  refer  the  reader  to  my  article  on  '  Isaac  Barrow '  in  the  Dictionary  of 
National  Biography  ?  It  will  be  seen  from  that,  that  I  do  not  agree  with 
those  who  make  it  a  reproach  to  the  Church  of  the  Caroline  age,  that 
Barrow  was  neglected  in  the  distribution  of  preferment ;  and  a  far  greater 
authority,  Dr.  Whewell,  takes  the  same  view.  By  far  the  best  edition  of 


40          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

From  the  great  Cambridge  preacher  we  naturally  turn  to 
the  great  Oxford  one,  Robert  South  (1638-1716),  whose  death 
broke  the  last  link  between  the  Church  of  the  Caroline  and 
the  Church  of  the  Georgian  era.  It  may  seem  at  the  first 
glance  out  of  place  to  notice  here  rather  than  in  our  next 
section  one  who  actually  outlived  the  whole  period  over  which 
this  sketch  extends.  But  the  reason  is,  that  South  came 
into  public  notice  early  in  life,  and  retired  early  into  com 
parative  obscurity.  It  was  during  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 
far  more  than  during  the  next  three  reigns  that  he  was  a 
prominent  figure  in  Church  life.  His  preaching  will  of  course 
come  before  us  again,  but  the  man  as  well  as  the  preacher 
deserves  notice.  He  was  the  most  unselfish  and  liberal  of 
men.  His  wit  and  eloquence  were  never  used  by  him  as 
stepping-stones  to  preferment.  '  Twice  at  least,  and  pro 
bably  more  than  twice,  he  refused  a  mitre  ;  '  l  and  when  he 
was  rector  of  Islip  he  did  not  spend  one  farthing  of  the  in 
come  upon  himself.  The  living  was  worth  200L  a  year  ;  of 
this  he  gave  100L  a  year  to  his  curate,  (more  than  three  times 
the  amount  of  the  ordinary  stipend,)  and  the  rest  he  spent 
entirely  upon  Islip,  clothing  and  apprenticing  the  poorer 
children  of  the  place,  restoring  the  chancel  of  the  church, 

Barrow's  Works  is  that  put  forth  for  the  syndics  of  the  University  Press 
(Cambridge)  by  the  Kev.  A.  Napier  in  1859  ;  and  by  far  the  best  account  of 
Barrow  himself  (as  regards  his  Cambridge  life)  is  Dr.  Whewell's  '  Notice  of 
Barrow's  Life  and  Academical  Times,'  which  will  be  found  in  the  ninth 
volume  of  Mr.  Napier's  edition  ;  and  by  far  the  best  bibliography  of  Bar 
row's  theological  works  is  contained  in  Mr.  Napier's  scholarly  Preface  to 
Volume  I.  A  short  life  was  published  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  Tillotson  by 
Abraham  Hill  in  1683,  prefixed  to  Tillotson's  edition  of  Barrow's  Works. 
The  Eev.  T.  S.  Hughes  gave  an  account  of  his  life  in  1830,  and  some 
exceedingly  interesting  notices  of  Barrow  and  his  family  may  be  found  in 
the  '  Davy  MSS.'  in  the  British  Museum  (unpublished),  to  which  my  atten 
tion  was  kindly  directed  by  the  Eev.  A.  B.  Grosart,  D.D.  See  also  The 
S.  James'  Lectures  on  tlie  Classic  Preachers  of  the  English  Church,  1877. 

1  An  Irish  bishopric,  the  bishopric  of  Eochester  and  deanery  of  West 
minster  (see  Life,  prefixed  to  Volume  VII.  of  Youth's  Sermons,  pub 
lished  1717),  and  perhaps  the  bishopric  of  Oxford.  (See  Bancroft's  Letter 
to  King  James,  1C86  ;  D'Oyly's  Life  of  Bancroft,  i.  235.) 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  4! 

building  a  new  rectory  house,  and  '  building  and  endowing  a 
school  for  ever.' l  It  is  also  said  that  he  resolved  to  '  lay  out 
what  he  had  received  from  his  canonry  at  Christ  Church 
on  poor  vicaridges.' 2  The  details  of  his  career  were  as 
follows.  He  was  one  of  the  many  eminent  churchmen  who 
were  educated  at  Westminster  under  Dr.  Busby,  and  at 
Christ  Church  under  Dr.  Fell  (father  and  son).  To  a 
studentship  at  the  latter  place  he  was  elected  at  the  same 
time  as  John  Locke.  He  was  one  of  the  many  who  were 
ordained  before  the  Eestoration  by  a  deprived  bishop 
(1659) ;  and  after  that  event  he  was  appointed  Public  Orator 
at  Oxford.  He  next  became  domestic  chaplain  to  Lord 
Chancellor  Clarendon,  *  whereby  he  was  on  the  road  to 
church  preferments.' 3  In  1663  he  was  '  installed  Prebend 
ary  of  S.  Peter's,  Westminster,' and  soon  after  made  rector 
of  Islip.  In  1670  he  became  Canon  of  Christ  Church,  and 
there  his  advancement  ended.  Upon  the  Eevolution,  after 
long  hesitation  he  took  the  oaths,  but  refused  to  accept  any 
post  vacated  by  a  nonjuror,  declaring  that  he  would  not 
'  build  his  Kise  upon  the  Ruines  of  any  one  Father  of  the 
Church,  who  for  piety,  good  morals,  and  strictness  of  life 
which  every  one  of  the  deprived  Bishops  were  famed  for, 
might  be  said  not  to  have  left  their  equal.' 4 

From  the  pupil  let  us  turn  to  the  master.  Richard 
Busby  (1606-1695)  is  now  thought  of  as  the  most  successful 
and  severest  of  pedagogues.  Of  his  success  at  Westmin 
ster,  where  he  was  head-master  all  through  the  Rebellion, 
there  is  no  doubt ;  but  the  tradition  of  his  severity  rests 
upon  very  slender  foundations.  That  he  was  a  most  pious 
and  liberal  Christian  of  the  old-fashioned  Church  of  England 
type  is  most  certain.  He  '  built  in  his  lifetime  a  handsome 

1  Life,  ut  supra.    Hearne  says  that  '  Dr.  South  told  Dr.  Hudson  that  he 
was  resolved  never  to  pocket  a  farthing  of  the  income  of  the  parsonage  of 
Islip,'  and  then  goes  on  to  narrate  what  has  been  mentioned  in  the  text. 
(See  ReliqiticR  Hearniance,  vol.  i.,  entry  for  November  28,  1705.     Also  the 
entry  for  July  12,  1716.) 

2  Hearne,  ut  supra.  3  Life,  prefixed  to  Works.  4  Life,  p.  115. 


42          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

church  at  "Willan  and  a  library  within  the  church,  and 
gave  books  to  the  value  of  150L  for  the  vicar  and  neighbour 
ing  ministers,' l  and  his  other  gifts  and  bequests  shew  that 
he  not  only  loved  the  Church,  but  that  he  had  deeply 
considered  her  spiritual  needs.2  Dr.  Prideaux  might  well 
lament  that  Busby's  offer  to  found  lectures  at  both  Uni 
versities  to  instruct  undergraduates  in  the  rudiments  of 
religion  was  declined ; 3  they  would  not  be  useless  even  now. 
Dr.  Busby  was  quite  as  anxious  to  promote  the  moral  and 
spiritual  as  the  classical  training  of  the  young.  He  em 
ployed  his  leisure  in  preparing  expurgated  editions  of  the 
classics,  '  that  his  pupils  might  become  acquainted  with  the 
beauties  of  the  ancient  writers  without  being  tainted  by 
their  immorality,' — another  work  by  no  means  superfluous 
at  the  present  day.  Busby's  letters  to  his  friend  Basire 
breathe  a  spirit  of  the  most  ardent  piety,  without  the 
slightest  cant.4  Peter  Barwick  seems  to  have  found  in 
him  a  substitute  for  his  brother  John,  as  a  spiritual 
counsellor.5  From  all  we  can  learn,  Wood  was  quite 
justified  in  describing  Dr.  Busby  as  '  a  person  eminent  and 
exemplary  for  piety  and  justice,'  as  well  as  '  an  encourager 
of  vertuous  and  forward  youth  ;  of  great  learning  and  hos 
pitality,  and  the  chief  person  that  educated  more  youth 
that  were  afterwards  eminent  in  Church  and  State  than 
any  master  of  his  time.' G  If  any  man  ever  deserved  well 
of  the  Church,  surely  Dr.  Busby  did ;  and  it  is  therefore  a 

1  See  Case  of  Impropriations  and  Augmentation  of  Vicarages  d'c.,  pub 
lished  anonymously  by  Dr.  White  Kennet,  1704,  where  a  long  list  will  be  found 
of  Dr.  Busby's  benefactions,  both  in  his  lifetime  and  by  his  will.     This  list 
fully  disproves  Pepys'  assertion  of  Dr.  Busby's  well-known  covetousness. 
(Memoirs,  iii.  211.)     Besides,  on  Pepys'  own  showing,  the  Doctor's  covetous- 
ness  was  for  Westminster,  not  for  himself. 

2  See  White  Kennet,  ut  supra. 

8  Life  of  Dr.  Humphrey  Prideaux,  p.  92. 

4  See  Correspondence  of  Isaac  Basire  &c.     Edited  by  Kev.  W.  N.  Darnell, 
1831,  passim. 

5  See  Life  of  Dr.  Barwick,  with  notes  by  Hilkiah  Bedford. 

6  Athence  Oxonienses,  iv.  417. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  43 

satisfaction  to  learn  that  after  the  Restoration  he  was 
made  Prebendary  of  Westminster,  and  subsequently  Trea 
surer  and  Canon  Residentiary  of  Wells. 

Busby's  friend  Isaac  Basire  (1607-1677)  was  one  whose 
experience  during  the  Rebellion  was  unique.  He  was,  as 
his  name  implies,  a  Frenchman  by  birth,1  but  came  over 
to  England  and  was  naturalised  here  before  he  reached 
middle  age.  He  nourished  in  his  adopted  country  before 
the  civil  war,  under  the  patronage  of  Bishop  Morton,  who 
made  him  his  chaplain,  gave  him  the  rich  livings  of  S. 
Conless  and  Egglescliff,  and  collated  him  to  the  seventh 
stall  in  Durham  Cathedral.2  On  the  breaking  out  of  the 
war  he  set  forth  on  his  travels,  and  spent  fifteen  years 
in  various  countries  of  the  East,  ever  keeping  in  view 
one  object — viz.  the  dissemination  of  the  Anglo-Catholic 
faith. 

There  is  something  grand  in  the  idea  of  one  solitary 
missionary  making  his  way  boldly  into  lands  into  which 
few  Englishmen  had  penetrated,  and  trying  to  win  over  con 
verts  to  his  Church  whithersoever  he  went.  And  it  was  no 
mere  Quixotic  attempt,  bred  of  a  delusion  or  an  overween 
ing  estimate  of  his  own  powers  ;  the  spiritual  knight-errant 
was  so  convinced  of  the  strength  of  his  cause,  that  he  felt 
it  had  only  to  be  fairly  presented  to  reasonable  minds  to 
win  them  over.  And  the  result  proved  that  he  had  not 
miscalculated  its  strength.  He  did  produce  a  very  ap 
preciable  impression  ;  he  became,  in  fact,  the  pioneer  of 
that  remarkable  attempt  at  union  with  the  Greek  Church 
which  was  made,  mainly  by  the  nonjurors,  in  the  next 
generation.3  Evelyn  calls  him  '  that  great  traveller,  or 
rather,  French  Apostle,  who  had  been  planting  the  Church 

1  According  to  some  authorities,  a  native  of  Jersey.  (See  Low's  Diocesan 
History  of  Durham,  S.P.C.K.,  p.  285.)     But  Mr.  Darnell  distinctly  states 
that  he  was  born  at  Eouen,  and  gives  the  full  details  of  his  early  life. 

2  But  this  was  in  1G43,  when  it  was  but  a  barren  honour. 

3  See  Mr.  Abbey's  paper  on  Kobert  Nelson   and  his   Friends   in    The 
English  Church  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  vol.  i.  pp.  157-161. 


44  LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

of  England  in  divers  parts  of  the  Levant  and  Asia.' l  The 
result  of  his  travels  was  to  confirm  him  in  his  churchman- 
ship;  <I  have,'  he  writes  a  short  time  before  his  death, 
'  surveyed  most  Churches,  Eastern  and  Western,  in  fifteen 
years'  ecclesiastical  pilgrimage  (during  my  voluntary  banish 
ment  for  my  religion  and  loyalty),  and  I  dare  pronounce 
the  Church  of  England,  what  David  said  of  Goliath's  sword, 
"  There  is  none  like  it,"  both  for  Primitive  Doctrine,  wor 
ship,  discipline,  and  government.' 2  After  the  Eestoration 
he  was  reinstated  in  his  preferments,  and  also  made  Arch 
deacon  of  Northumberland.  In  this  capacity  he  exerted 
himself  to  carry  out  all  the  vigorous  reforms  of  Bishop 
Cosin,  whose  funeral  sermon  he  preached,  and  of  whose 
life  he  wrote  a  '  Brief,'  which  is  a  model  for  modern  bio 
graphers,  condensing,  as  it  does,  within  a  hundred  racily 
written  pages,  all  that  was  really  necessary  to  be  said.  Not 
being  in  advance  of  his  age,  Basire  was  too  ready  to  call 
in  the  secular  arm  to  enforce  conformity ;  '  I  find,'  he 
writes  to  his  son,  '  by  sad  experience  that  the  Staffe  of 
Beauty  (Zech.  xi.  7)  will  not  do  the  work  without  the 
Staffe  of  Bands  ; '  but  his  correspondence  and  the  whole 
tenor  of  his  life  shew  that  he  was  a  spiritually-minded  man, 
who  valued  the  '  Staffe  of  Beauty '  most.3 

Richard  Allestree  (1619-1680)  was  a  pupil  of  Dr.  Busby, 
not  at  Westminster,  but  at  Christ  Church,  of  which  he  was 
made  a  student  by  Dr.  Samuel  Fell,  the  dean.  He  fought 
courageously  for  the  king,  and  no  less  manfully  assisted  his 
friends  John  Fell  and  Dolben  in  performing  the  proscribed 
services  of  the  Church.  On  the  king's  return  he  was  made 
Canon  of  Christ  Church,  and  undertook  gratuitously  one 
of  the  city  lectureships.  He  was  made  king's  chaplain, 
Begius  Professor  of  Divinity,  and  ultimately  Provost  of 
Eton.  The  vicarage  of  Ewelme  was  attached  to  the  Begius 

1  Diary,  July  10,  1661.          °-  The  Dead  Man's  real  Speech  &c.,  p.  47. 
8  For  a  fuller  account  of  Basire,  may  I  venture  to  refer  the  reader  to 
my  article  on  him  in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography  ? 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD 


45 


Professorship,  but  Allestree  'would  not  receive  a  penny 
of  the  income,  but  left  it  to  a  friend  whose  circumstances 
required  such  an  accession.' l  His  biographer  gives  other 
instances  of  his  unselfish  liberality,  quite  sufficient  to 
account  for  his  having  died  a  poor  man  in  spite  of  his 
preferments.  As  Busby  at  Westminster,  so  Allestree  at 
Eton,  did  immense  good  by  inculcating,  by  precept  and 
example,  lessons  of  piety  as  well  as  learning  upon  the 
rising  churchmen  of  the  day.  For  a  full  account  of  this 
great  and  good  man  the  reader  may  be  referred  to  the 
lively  and  easily  accessible  pages  of  Bishop  Fell. 

A  still  more  eminent  Christ  Church  man  was  Edmund 
Pocock  (1604-1691),  the  great  Orientalist  and  first  Laudian 
Professor  of  Arabic.  He  was  originally  a  scholar  of  Corpus 
Christi  College ;  after  having  taken  his  degree  he  travelled 
extensively  in  Eastern  countries,  and  then  settled  down 
in  the  college  living  of  Childrey,  which  he  was  allowed  to 
retain  all  through  the  Eebellion.  But  not  without  difficulty. 
The  man  whose  European  reputation  for  learning  was  per 
haps  greater  than  that  of  any  living  Englishman  was  all 
but  turned  out  of  his  living  for  '  ignorance  and  insufficiency,' 
on  the  evidence  of  the  farmers  and  labourers  of  Childrey ! 2 
Though  they  did  not  succeed  in  ousting  him,  his  pa 
rishioners  made  themselves  so  unpleasant  that  the  good 
man  often  wished  himself  back  at  Aleppo  or  Constantinople. 
However,  at  the  Eestoratiou  he  was  transplanted  to  the 
more  congenial  soil  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  where  he  was 
better  appreciated  than  by  the  rustics  of  Childrey.  He 
was  so  liberal  that  Dr.  Fell  used  to  complain  that  he  drew 

1  Fell's  Life  of  Allestree. 

2  '  Sure,'  writes  his  biographer  quaintly,  •  there  was  something  odd  and 
whimsical  in  the  circumstances  and  situation  of  the  good  man,  to  be  one 
day  caressed  by  the  greatest  scholars  in  Europe,  and  set  up  an  oracle  for 
resolving  difficulties  in  the  abstrusest  parts  of  learning,  and  the  next  per 
haps,  convened  to  answer  the  articles  exhibited  against  him  by  his  illiterate 
parishioners.'     (Life  of  Pocock,  p.  185).     Not  perhaps  so  very  odd  after  all. 
Drs.  Seth  Ward,  Wilkins,  Wallis  and  Owen  had  the  credit  of  preventing 
their  University  from  disgracing  itself  by  his  removal. 


46          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

all  the  poor  of  Oxford  to  Christ  Church.  Like  many  great 
scholars  he  was  almost  morbidly  meek  and  modest.  His 
death  drew  forth  the  most  enthusiastic  praise  from  men 
who  knew  him  in  his  later  years  at  Christ  Church,  notably 
from  Dr.  Marsh,  the  Primate  of  Ireland,  and  from  John 
Locke.  '  His  life,'  writes  the  latter,  '  appeared  to  me  one 
constant  calm.  I  can  say  of  him  what  few  men  can  say  of 
any  friend  of  theirs,  nor  I  of  any  other  of  my  acquaintance, 
that  I  do  not  remember  I  ever  saw  in  him  any  one  action 
that  I  did,  or  could  in  my  own  mind,  blame,  or  thought 
amiss  in  him.' l 

Before  quitting  Oxford  \ve  must  pass  from  Christ  Church 
to  the  humbler  region  of  Lincoln  College,  whose  rector, 
Thomas  Marshall  (1621-1685),  though  now  forgotten,  was 
evidently  a  prominent  figure  in  the  Church  life  of  his  day. 
He  had  borne  arms  for  the  king  at  Oxford,  and  at  Oxford 
he  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  ministerial  life.  Probably 
with  the  desire  of  having  some  clerical  work,  he  held  with 
the  rectorship  the  living  of  Combe,  a  living  of  very  small 
value,  in  the  gift  of  the  college.  Here  he  visited  constantly 
the  penitent  Earl  of  Eochester.2  The  bishop  of  the  diocese 
thought  so  highly  of  his  clerical  character  that  he  desired 
him  to  draw  up  notes  of  a  catechism  to  be  used  by  the 
ministers  of  the  diocese ; 3  and  Eobert  Boyle  felt  that  his 
name  would  carry  so  much  weight  that  he  persuaded  him 
to  write  a  preface  to  the  Malayan  copy  of  the  Gospels  and 
Acts  which  that  good  man  was  at  the  expense  of  printing.4 
All  the  writers  who  mention  Dr.  Marshall  mention  him  in 
terms  of  praise.  He  is  '  the  learned  and  worthy  Rector  of 
Lincoln,' 5  a  '  painful  preacher,  a  good  man  and  governor, 

1  See  Life  of  Dr.  Edward  Pocock,  republished  in  1816,  passim. 

2  See  Burnet's  Life  of  John,  Earl  of  Rochester,  p.  261. 

3  Alliance  Oxonienses,  iv.  170. 

4  Birch's  Life  of  the  Hon.  Robert  Boyle,  p.  230.     See  also  Anderson's 
History  of  the  Colonial  Church,  ii.  474,  where  it  is  said  that  Boyle  consulted 
Marshall  before  publishing  the  translation. 

3  Burnet's  Life  of  Rochester,  p.  261. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  47 

and  one  every  way  worthy  of  his  station  in  the  Church ; '  * 
'  a  truly  reverend  and  learned  man,  who  seemed  to  have  no 
other  object  besides  the  promotion  of  piety  and  literature.' 2 
He  was  ultimately  promoted  to  the  deanery  of  Wells,  but  it 
is  as  Kector  of  Lincoln  that  we  hear  most  about  him. 

Archbishops  and  bishops,  deans  and  archdeacons,  canons 
and  professors,  naturally  come  forward  more  prominently  in 
connection  with  church  life,  than  plain  parish  priests.  But 
there  is  abundant  evidence  that  there  was  no  lack  of  excel 
lent  specimens  of  the  latter  during  the  Caroline  age.  Many 
who  will  appear  as  dignitaries  in  our  next  period  were 
now  most  usefully  engaged  in  parish  work.  Beveridge  was, 
during  a  great  part  of  the  period,  labouring  heartily  and 
most  successfully  at  S.  Peter's,  Cornhill ;  Sharp,  during 
sixteen  years  of  the  time,  at  S.  Giles'  in  the  Fields ; 
Patrick  was  at  S.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden,  refusing  other 
preferment  because  his  work  in  that  place  was  so  en 
couraging.  Ken  was  occupied  with  parish  work,  first  at 
S.  John's  Soke,  Winchester,  where  it  was  literally  a 
labour  of  love,  for  he  had  no  stipend ;  then  at  Brightstone, 
then  at  Woodhay ;  Hooper,  subsequently  his  successor  at 
Bath  and  Wells,  was  also  his  successor,  and  a  most 
worthy  one,  at  Woodhay ;  Bull  was  still  at  Suddington, 
allowing  his  energies  and  tastes  the  free  play  which  was 
denied  to  them  during  the  Bebellion ;  Lancelot  Addison 
was  at  Milston,  taking,  as  his  practical  works  show,  a  high 
and  sound  standard  of  clerical  work ;  Lloyd  (afterwards 
bishop)  was  working  the  large  parish  of  S.  Martin's  in  the 
Fields  with  great  vigour.  These  all  attained  to  dignities 
in  the  Church ;  but  there  were  other  estimable  and  diligent 
men  who  lived  and  died  simple  parish  priests.  Such  was 
Isaac  Milles,  the  very  model  of  a  country  parson,  whose  life 
extended  into  the  Georgian  era,  but  who,  all  through  the 
Caroline  era,  was  working,  first  as  curate  at  Barley,  then 

1  Wood,  Athena  Oxonienses. 

2  Noble's  Biographical  History  of  England,  i.  93. 


48          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

as  vicar  at  Chipping  Wycombe,  as  conscientiously  as  he 
afterwards  did  at  High  Clere;1  such  was  his  less  known, 
but  equally  worthy,  elder  brother,  Samuel,  vicar  of  Eoyston, 
who  '  succeeded  during  his  residence  there,  beyond  all  his 
predecessors  and  those  who  came  after  him,  in  bringing  over 
nonconformists  to  the  Church.' 2  Such  was  Eichard  Sherlock, 
the  uncle  and  the  trainer  of  the  saintly  Thomas  Wilson, 
who  wrote  his  life.  Winwick,  where  he  lived  as  rector  for 
thirty  years,  and  '  was  scarce  so  many  weeks  absent  from 
his  flock,'  was  so  well  worked  by  its  active  rector  with  his 
three  curates  that  'it  became  a  very  desirable  place  for 
young  divines  to  improve  themselves  in  the  work  of  the 
ministry.' 3  Horneck,  first  at  All  Saints',  Oxford,  then  at 
the  Savoy;  Eawlett  at  Newcastle;  Kettle  well  at  Coleshill  — 
were  all  diligent  parish  priests  during  the  later  part  of  our 
era,  though  their  lives  more  properly  belong  to  the  next 
period ;  and  we  have  many  incidental  notices  of  good,  hard 
working  clergymen,  who  in  this,  as  in  every  age,  lived  and 
died  in  obscurity.  Timothy  Borage,  e.g.,  '  quitted  the  re 
tirement  of  a  scholastic  life  in  Cambridge  from  the  convic 
tion  of  the  duty  incumbent  on  him  of  exercising  in  the  world 
the  powers  committed  to  him  by  his  ordination,'  and  was 
*  an  excellent  working  clergyman  at  Great  Marlow ; ' 4  while 
at  the  neighbouring  town  of  Amersham  was  a  rector  who 
is  described  by  the  same  authority  as  '  in  all  respects  a 
pious,  learned,  and  excellent  man.'  Bancroft's  successor 
in  the  rectory  of  Houghton-le- Spring,  Mr.  Davenport,  is 
described  as  '  a  man  of  most  blameless  and  apostolic  life, 
and  of  munificence  which  is  even  yet  remembered  ; 5  and,  to 
pass  from  the  north  to  the  south,  Dr.  Granville  '  was  much 
satisfied  to  find  Moreclack  [Mortlake]  supplied  by  a  worthy 

1  See  the  Life  of  the  Rev.  I.  Milles,  republished  in  1842. 

2  Ibid.  p.  15. 

3  See  Life  of  Richard  Sherlock,  D.D.,  Rector  of  Winwick,  by  Bishop 
Wilson,  prefixed  to  Sherlock's  Practical  Catechism. 

*  See  Life  of  Isaac  Milles,  p.  47. 

b  See  Surtees  Miscellanea,  where  there  is  much  more  praise  of  him. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD 


49 


person,  one  Mr.  Jones.' l  But  it  is  obviously  impossible  to 
specify  all  the  worthy  parish  priests,  who  were  scattered, 
in  no  small  proportion,  throughout  the  country.  Neither 
must  we  dwell  upon  the  work  of  the  clergy  in  another  field, 
that  of  sacred  literature.  It  was  in  the  period  with  which 
we  are  now  dealing  that  Stillingfleet  published  his  '  Origines 
Sacrse '  and  many  other  works ; 2  Timothy  Puller  his  well- 
known  treatise  '  On  the  Moderation  of  the  Church  of 
England  ; ' 3  Fullwood  his  '  Koma  ruit ' — '  one  of  the  most 
important  theological  productions  of  the  time  ; '  Towerson 
his  standard  work  on  the  Church  Catechism,  which  will  be 
noticed  presently ;  Comber  the  first  part  of  his  '  Companion 
to  the  Temple  ; '  Simon  Lowth  his  admirable  '  Catechetical 
Questions ; '  Beveridge  many  of  his  voluminous  and  very 
popular  works;  Patrick  some  of  his  earlier  treatises; 
Edmund  Castel  his  grand  '  Lexicon  Heptaglotton ' — most 
of  these  were  composed  in  the  retirement  of  country  livings. 
The  list  might  be  swelled  almost  indefinitely ;  but  enough 
has  been  said  to  show  that  the  clergy  of  the  Caroline  era 
were  not  slack  in  contributing  to  what  has  always  been  the 
glory  of  the  Church  of  England — its  sacred  literature. 

THE   CAMBRIDGE  PLATONISTS. 

Before  turning  to  the  clergy  of  the  next  period  it  is  neces 
sary  to  say  a  few  words  about  a  set  of  men  (all  clergymen), 
whose  lives,  no  less  than  their  writings,  form  a  remarkable 
episode  in  the  Church  life  of  the  seventeenth  century.  If 
this  were  a  history  of  religious  thought,  a  considerable 
space  would  have  to  be  devoted  to  the  Cambridge  Platonists  ; 
but  their  lives,  blameless  and  beautiful  as  they  were,  stood 
so  far  apart  from  the  general  life  of  the  Church  and  nation 
that  a  very  short  notice  will  suffice.  And  first,  a  caution 

1  Remains  of  Dean  Granville,  Part  I.  (Surtees  Miscellanea),  p.  174. 

2  See  Life  and  Character  of  Bishop  Edward  Stillingfleet,  published  1710. 

3  An  excellent  edition  of  this  has  been  republished  by  the  Rev.  R.  Eden, 
in  our  own  day. 


50          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

must  be  given  against  being  misled  by  names.     The  Plato- 
nists  were  called  '  Latitudinarians  '  and  '  Eationalists,'  and 
not  inappropriately  ;  but  they  must  not  be  confounded  with 
others  to  whom  the  same  titles  were  given.    Their  '  latitude  ' 
was  not  as  against  the  creed  of  the  Church  of  England, 
but  as  against  the  Calvinism  and  general  narrowness  of  the 
Puritans  of  the  Commonwealth  ; l  and  their  <  rationalism  ' 
was  rather  a  levelling  up  than  a  levelling  down;    for  by 
'  reason'    they   understood   not    merely   the    ratiocinative 
faculty  but  'the  breath  of  a  higher,  diviner  reason,'2  '  the 
first  participation  from  God,'3 'the  sacerdotal  breastplate 
of  the  Xoyioi;  or  rationale,' 4  '  the  candle  of  the  Lord,'  '  a 
beam  of  divine  light.' 5     Most  of  them  sprang,  during  the 
Commonwealth,  from  the  Puritan  college,  Emmanuel,  and 
they  evidently  caused  a  sensation  quite  out  of  proportion 
to  their  numbers  or  to  their  activity,  for  they  do  not  seem 
to  have  been  at  all  inclined  to  proselytise.      An  Oxford 
correspondent  writes  to  a  Cambridge  friend,  in  1662,  that 
<  he  can  come  into  no  company  but  he  finds  the  chief  dis 
course  to  be  about  a  new  sect  of  men,  called  Latitude-men,' 
and  he  begs  his  friend,  S.  P.  (probably  Simon  Patrick),  to 
tell  him  all  about  them.      S.  P.  explains  that  they  were 
called   Latitude-men   'in   opposition   to   that   hide-bound, 
strait-laced   spirit   that   did   prevail'  before   the   Kestora- 
tion;  'that  they  are  so  far  from  being  dangerous  to  the 
Church  that  they  seem  to  be  the  very  chariot  and  horsemen 
thereof,'  and  that  they  desired  to  benefit  the  Church  by 

1  S  T  Coleridge,  who  had  many  points  in  common  with  the  Platonists, 
clearly'  distinguishes  the  latitudinarianism  of  More,  Cudworth,  Ac.,  from 
the  disposition  to  explain  away  the  articles  of  the  Church  on  the  pretext  of 
their  inconsistency  with  right  reason.  (Notes  on  English  Divines,  p.  119.) 
Burnet  gives  a  most  confused  and  inadequate  account  of  them,  mixing  them 
up  with  men  of  his  own  way  of  thinking,  from  which  they  were  quite  alien. 
(History  of  My  Own  Times,  book  ii.  under  year  1661.) 

-  Tulloch's  Rational  Theology  &c.,  ii.  135. 

«  Whichcote,  Aphorism  459.  '  The  spirit  in  man  is  the  candle  of  the 
Lord  lighted  by  God,  and  lighting  man  to  God,'  &c.  (Sermon). 

,  Henry  More.  3  John  Smith's  Select  Discourses,  p.  399. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  51 

'  letting  her  old  loving  nurse,  the  Platonick  Philosophy,  be 
admitted  again  into  her  family  in  place  of  Aristotle  and 
the  school-men.' 1  But  their  attachment  to  the  Church  of 
England  was  of  rather  a  peculiar  character.  It  was  based 
partly  on  aesthetic  grounds.  They  admired  her  decent 
grandeur  and  splendour,  and  thought  '  it  would  be  a  sorry 
exchange  to  accept  of  Presbytery  instead ; ' 2  and  they  also 
valued  her  creeds  and  formularies  as  among  the  greatest 
bulwarks  against  Hobbism,  the  tendency  of  which  they 
perceived  earlier  than  most  persons.3  The  lives  of  the 
Platonists  are  well  worth  studying.  A  more  elevating 
study  than  the  life,  say,  of  Henry  More,  or  of  that  wonder 
ful1  young  man,  John  Smith,  '  whom  it  pleased  the  only 
wise  God,  in  whose  hands  our  breath  is,  to  call  home  to 
the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  after  He  had  lent  him 
to  this  unworthy  world  for  about  thirty-five  years,' 4  or,  in 
fact,  of  almost  any  of  the  band,  it  would  be  difficult  to  con 
ceive  ;  and  materials  for  the  task  are  so  abundant,  that 
we  can  gain  almost  as  vivid  a  conception  of  their  life  and 
character  as  of  that  of  any  of  our  contemporaries.  But  the 
temptation  to  pursue  the  subject  further  must  be  resisted ; 
for  to  yield  to  it  would  be  to  transgress  our  rule,  viz.  to 
select  only  typical  instances  of  Church  life;  for  the  lives 
of  the  Cambridge  Platonists  were  wholly  exceptional.  It 

1  A  Brief  Account  of  the  New  Sect  of  Latitudinarians ,  together  with 
some  Reflections  upon  the  New  Philosophy,  by  S.  P.,  of  Cambridge,  in  answer 
to  a  Friend  at  Oxford.   The  whole  tract  is  thoroughly  well  worth  reading.    See 
also  Cambridge  Characteristics  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,  by  J.B.  Mullinger, 
of  S.  John's  (the  Le  Bas  Prize),  1867,  and  Rational  Theology  and  Christian 
Philosophy  in  England  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,  by  J.  Tulloch,  D.D.,  1862. 
But  after  all,  the  most  vivid  picture  of  the  Platonists  is  drawn  in  their  own 
writings,  which  are  very  accessible  and  most  fascinating  reading. 

2  These  were  the  words  of  Dr.  Henry  More,  but  they  express  the  views 
of  all  the  Platonists. 

3  By  far  the  most  powerful  treatise  that  ever  was  written  against  Hobbism 
was  by  a  Platonist,  Cudworth's  Intellectual  System. 

4  These  are  the  beautiful  words  of  another  Platonist,  John  Worthington, 
in  his  '  Address  to  the  Eeader,'  prefixed  to  his  edition  of  his  friend  John 
Smith's  magnificent  Discourses. 

E  2 


52  LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

is,  however,  but  just  to  add  one  remark.  The  purity  and 
saintliness  of  the  Platonists'  lives  must  in  fairness  be 
regarded  as  the  logical  outcome  of  their  system.  It  would 
be  doing  them  a  grievous  injustice  to  look  upon  them  as  a  set 
of  harmless  dreamers  whose  airy  speculations  had  little  or 
nothing  to  do  with  practical  holiness.  They  taught  that 
purity  of  heart  and  life  was  the  only  true  way  to  know 
ledge,1  a  theory  which  they  worked  out  with  exquisite  taste 
and  beauty,  and  which  they  certainly  endeavoured  to  carry 
into  practice.  But  their  ideas  were  too  refined  for  general, 
working  purposes ;  they  flew  above  the  heads  of  the 
commonplace  world.  Their  admirers  became  absorbed  in 
other  parties.  Patrick,  their  early  defender  and  disciple, 
identified  himself  with  the  High  Church  party ;  so  did  the 
excellent  John  Scott,  so  did  George  Bust,  the  '  fidus 
Achates,'  panegyrist,  and  ultimately  successor  of  Jeremy 
Taylor,  though  none  of  the  three  ever  lost  entirely  the 
Platonic  tincture ;  Edmund  Fowler,  afterwards  Bishop  of 
Gloucester,  a  friend  of  the  Platonists  and  a  defender  of 
them  with  his  pen2  though  he  never  thoroughly  entered 
into  their  spirit,  became  a  low  churchman  of  the  most 
commonplace  type ;  Howe,  one  of  the  best  of  the  noncon 
formists,  who  was  deeply  tinged  with  Platonism,  and  iwas 
an  intimate  friend  and  ardent  admirer  of  some  of  the  most 
eminent  Platonists,  was  quite  content  to  cast  in  his  lot  with 
the  dissenters  : 3  while  More's  *  heroine  pupil,'  Lady  Con  way, 

1  See  the  whole  of  Discourse  I.  of  John  Smith's  Select  Discourses,  which 
insists  upon  this  point  with  a  beauty  of  language  and  thought  to  which 
there  are  few  parallels  in  the  English  tongue.     Cf.  also  the  well-known 
saying  of  Henry  More, '  The  Oracle  of  God  is  not  to  be  heard  but  in  His  holy 
temple— that  is  to  say,  in  a  good  and  holy  man,'  &c.     (See  his  Preface  to 
his  General  Collection  of  Philosophical  Writings,  p.  6.) 

2  See  his  Free  Discourse  on  the  Platonists.     Fowler  was  much  more 
like  Burnet  than  like  the  Platonists.     I  am  surprised  that  so  generally 
accurate  a  writer  as  Von  Ranke  should  assert  that  '  Burnet  allied  himself  to 
the  Cambridge  Platonists.'    (History  of  England,  book  vi.)     Surely  he  had 
hardly  any  point  in  common  with  them. 

3  See  Life  and  Character  of  John  Howe,  by  Henry  Rogers,  pp.  21,  22. 


CLERGY   OF   THE   PERIOD  53 

joined  the  Quakers,  in  spite  of  her  tutor's  remonstrances ; 
as  also  did  a  Mr.  Archdale,  in  consequence  of  reading 
More's  works.1 

But  if  the  peculiar  tenets  of  the  Platonists  proved  a 
rope  of  sand  which  could  not  bind  any  considerable  body 
of  Englishmen  in  one  coherent  system,  it  was  not  because 
they  were  wanting  in  definiteness,  but  rather  because  the 
English  mind  refused  to  assimilate  such  ethereal  food.  It 
may  be  said  of  the  Platonist  that  '  his  soul  was  like  a  star, 
and  dwelt  apart ; '  but  it  was  a  peculiarly  bright  star,  and 
added  lustre  to  the  firmament  of  the  English  Church,  to 
which,  in  its  own  peculiar  way,  it  essentially  belonged. 

CLERGY  OF   THE  REVOLUTION  PERIOD  AND  IN 
THE  REIGN  OF  QUEEN  ANNE. 

First  in  point  of  dignity  and  date  among  the  notable 
clergy  of  the  Eevolution  period  is  William  Sancroft  (1617- 
1693).  .Be  had  been  of  course  a  prominent  man,  almost 
from  the  time  of  the  Eestoration ;  but  as  his  name  is  most 
conspicuous  in  connection  with  the  Eevolution,  it  is,  on  the 
whole,  more  suitable  to  group  him  among  the  clergy  of 
that  era,  though  he  had  passed  the  allotted  span  of  life 
when  the  Eevolution  took  place.  He  was  elected  fellow  of 
Emmanuel,  Cambridge,  before  the  Eebellion,  but  lost  his 
fellowship  for  refusing  to  take  either  the  Covenant  or  the 
Engagement.  He  went  forth  into  voluntary  exile,  and  by 
his  energy  was  able  not  only  to  support  himself,  but  also  to 
help  his  friend  Dr.  Cosin,  who,  when  he  became  Bishop  of 
Durham,  lost  no  time  in  showing  his  gratitude  ;  for  he 
immediately  gave  Sancroft  the  rich  living  of  Houghton-le- 
Spfing  and  a  canonry  at  Durham;  and  he  was  anxious 
to  procure  for  him  the  still  greater  benefit  of  a  good  wife, 
but  could  not  persuade  Sancroft  to  take  advantage  of  his 
kindness  in  this  last  point.  For  a  short  time  Sancroft  was 

1  See  Life  of  Isaac  Milles,  p.  152. 


54          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Master  of  his  old  College.  He  was  next  made  Dean,  first 
of  York,  then  of  Canterbury,  and  then  of  S.  Paul's,  where 
he  fully  kept  up  the  high  standard  raised  by  his  predeces 
sors,  Barwick  and  Sudbury.  On  the  death  of  Sheldon, 
Bancroft  was  advanced  at  a  bound  to  the  primacy,  to  the 
surprise  of  all,  and  the  disgust  of  some  over  whose  heads 
he  had  been  raised.1  The  contrast  between  Sancroft  and 
Sheldon  was  most  striking ;  both  were  staunch  churchmen, 
but  Sancroft  had  imbibed  far  more  thoroughly  the  true 
spirit  of  Church  principles  than  Sheldon  ever  did  ;  one 
natural  and  happy  consequence  of  which  was  a  marked 
improvement  in  the  treatment  of  nonconformists.'2  San 
croft  knew  that  spiritual  not  carnal  weapons  were  the 
Church's  true  defences  ;  he  had  far  too  much  faith  in  the 
vitality  of  the  Church  to  be  over-eager  in  calling  in  the 
aid  of  the  secular  arm ;  and  he  was  most  sincerely  anxious 
to  devise  some  scheme  for  comprehending  nonconformists 
within  her  pale  without  compromising  any  principle.  He 
was  a  modest,  retiring,  contemplative  man,3  with  little  of 
the  bonhomie  and  none  of  the  statesmanlike  qualities  of  his 
predecessor.  His  mode  of  life  was  most  simple  and  frugal, 
and  the  violent  contrast  which  it  presented  in  this  respect 
to  that  of  Sheldon  naturally  caused  him  to  be  charged  with 

1  'December  30,  1677.— This  day,  Dr.  W.  Sandcroft  [sic],  Dean  of  S. 
Paul's,  was  declared  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  contrary  to  the  expectation  of 
all  the  Court,  and  to  the  dissatisfaction  of  many  bishops  who  resented  his  leap 
from  the  deanery  of  Paul's  over  their  heads  unto  the  primacy.     It  could  not 
be  imagin'd  at  Court  what  or  who  urg'd  the  king  to  promote  him,  unless  (as 
'twas  most  generally  suppos'd)  a  particular  esteem  and  kindness  His  Majesty 
always  had  for  him,'  &c.     (Diary  of  Dr.  Edward  Lake,  republished  for  the 
Camden  Society,  1846.)     White  Rennet  says,  '  The  king  was  under  some 
difficulty  to  find  a  proper  person,  but  at  last,  by  the  recommendation  of  his 
brother,  the  Duke  of  York,  he  resolved  upon  Sancroft,  as  a  person  of  great 
prudence  and  moderation.'     (History  of  England,  vol.  iii.  p.  361.) 

2  See  Wilkins'  Concilia,  vol.  iv.,  where  the  original  circular  letters  of 
the  archbishops  show  a  marked  difference  of  tone  on  this  point,  as  soon  as 
Sheldon  is  succeeded  by  Sancroft. 

3  See  '  Remarks  on  his  Life,'  prefixed  to  his  Occasional  Sermons  (1694), 
p.  xvi. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  55 

avarice.  But  the  charge  was  most  unjust ;  ]  for  his 
liberality  was  as  conspicuous  as  Sheldon's,  which  is  saying 
a  great  deal ;  2  but  he  was  not  the  man  of  business  that 
Sheldon  was,  and  hence  though  his  simple  habits  must  have 
entailed  upon  him  far  less  personal  expenses  than  Sheldon 
in  his  sumptuousness  incurred,  he  left  Lambeth  a  poor 
man,  while  his  predecessor  died  a  rich  one.  He  was  in  no 
sense  a  showy  man ;  he  was  greedy  after  all  kinds  of 
knowledge,  and  is  said  to  have  left  behind  him  more 
MSS.  than  almost  any  man  of  his  time,3  but  he  shrank  from 
appearing  in  print.  Perhaps  this  is  not  to  be  regretted,  for 
he  had  not  the  art  of  setting  off  his  wares  to  the  best 
advantage.  It  was  evidently  an  effort  to  him,  as  it  is  to 
most  bookish  men,  to  emerge  from  obscurity  ;  and  this 
seems  to  be  the  true  explanation  of  one  or  two  passages  in 
his  life  which  have  been  construed  as  proofs  of  timidity. 
It  certainly  would  have  been  well  if  in  1686  he  had  either 
joined  the  Ecclesiastical  Commission  or  distinctly  refused  to 
do  so,  and  not  merely  excused  himself  for  non-attendance ; 
and  if  in  1689  he  had  appeared  in  the  House  of  Lords  and 
boldly  advocated  a  Kegency,  and  if  he  had  either  joined  in 
consecrating  Burnet  to  a  bishopric,  or  declined  to  have 
anything  to  do  with  the  matter,  instead  of  appointing  a 
commission  for  the  purpose.  But  over  and  over  again  he 
showed  that  he  could  be  bold  as  a  lion,  and  active  far  beyond 

1  '  False  as  Hell,'  wrote  Swift  in  language  more  forcible  that  polite,  in  a 
note  upon  Burnet's  accusation  of  Bancroft  as  avaricious.     (See  Lord  Dart 
mouth's  Notes  on  Burnet,   iii.  102.)     Another  writer,  commenting  on  the 
same  charge,  writes,   '  Viri  hujusce  sanctissimi  vitam  recolens,  non  sine 
aliqua  indignatione  miror,  ab  historico  scriptore,  et  quidem  Episcopo,  virtutes 
ejus  adeo  non  celebrari,  ut  parsimonias  et  avaritiae  infamia  ipsius  memoriae 
inurere  videatur.'     (Bishop  Godwin,  De  Prasulibus  Anglia.} 

2  See  Bishop  Godwin,  ut  supra ;  D'Oyly's  Life  of  Bancroft,  i.  146,  149  ; 
and  Miss  Strickland's  Lives  of  the  Seven  Bishops,  pp.  45-50. 

3  See  Collectanea  Curiosa,  from  the  MSS.  of  Archbishop  Bancroft,  given 
to  the  Bodleian  by  Bishop  Tanner,  1781,  Preface,  p.  xxxiii.     On  his  reluc 
tance  to  appear  in  print,   see  the  '  Remarks  on  his  Life,'  prefixed  to  his 
Occasional  Sermons  (1694),  p.  ix. 


56          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

what  his  predecessor  had  ever  been.  He  was  the  only 
prominent  clergyman  in  the  seventeenth  century  who  twice 
in  his  life  '  was  deprived  of  all  that  he  could  not  keep  with 
a  good  conscience.' l  The  young  man  who  went  forth 
from  Cambridge  because  he  could  not  break  his  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  father,  and  the  old  man  who  went  forth 
from  Lambeth  because  he  could  not  break  his  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  son,  were  one  and  the  same  from  first  to 
last.  He  had  no  hesitation  about  taking  the  unusual  step 
of  suspending  a  bishop  who  was  unworthy  of  his  high 
office.2  He  boldly  withstood  the  second  personage  of  the 
realm  and  strove  to  bring  him  back  to  his  mother  church  ; 
and  he  was  the  life  and  soul  of  that  brave  band  of  seven 
who  stood  in  the  gap  when  the  same  man,  now  the  first 
personage  of  the  realm,  strove  to  Komanise  the  country ;  and 
he  boldly  protested  against  the  same  king  keeping  the  see 
of  York  vacant,  truly  remarking  that  he  was  the  only 
clergyman  in  the  realm  who  could  do  so  without  being 
suspected  of  interested  motives.  Surely  all  this  does  not 
argue  timidity;  and  so  far  from  his  being  inactive,  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  extraordinary  activity  of  the  bishops 
and  pastors  of  the  Church  during  the  eleven  years  of  his 
primacy,  when  churches  were  better  attended  and  services 
more  frequent  than  they  had  perhaps  ever*  been  since  the 
Eeformation,  was  in  no  slight  degree  the  result  of  the 
activity  of  the  Primate.  His  episcopal  brethren  clearly 
looked  up  to  him  as  personally  no  less  than  officially  their 
natural  leader.3  And  he  had  evidently  the  confidence  of 

1  Nelson's  Life  of  Butt,  p.  189.  2  Bishop  Wood,  of  Lichfield. 

3  For  proofs  of  this,  see,  inter  alia,  the  Bishop  of  Ely's  (Turner)  letter  to 
him  in  January  1689.  '  Without  compliment,  your  grace  is  better  versed 
than  all  of  us  together,'  &c.  (See  the  letter  quoted  in  Correspondence  of 
Henry  Hyde,  Earl  of  Clarendon,  &c.,  ii.  507.)  Bishop  Lake  of  Chichester 
'  always  valued  as  the  principal  honour  and  felicity  of  his  life,  his  friendship 
with  Archbishop  Bancroft.'  (See  Defence  of  the  Profession  of  the  Bishop  of 
Chichester,  1690,  p.  8.)  Bishop  Nicolson  thinks  that  '  the  main  objection  ' 
to  the  Eevolution  Government  is  '  Sancroft's  declining  to  pay  allegiance  to 
it,'  and  '  confesses  that  his  example  ought  to  carry  a  great  deal  of  authority 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  57 

the  nation.  Churchmen  of  the  spiritual,  not  political,  type 
we  might  expect  to  find,  as  of  course  we  do,  among  his 
admirers.  But  men  like  Swift,  who  was  a  statesman  at 
least  as  much  as  a  churchman,  is  equally  enthusiastic  in 
his  praise ; l  Dryden,  the  hater  of  priests  of  all  religions, 
makes  an  exception  in  favour  of  '  Zadok,'  the  priestliest  of 
priests.2  The  Princess  of  Orange  writes  to  him  in  1687, 
'  Though  I  have  not  the  advantage  to  know  you,  my  Lord 
of  Canterbury,  yet  the  reputation  you  have  makes  me  re 
solve  not  to  lose  this  opportunity  of  making  myself  more 
known  to  you,'3 — a  remarkable  testimony  from  the  wife  of 
"William  of  Orange.  Wake,  a  bishop  of  quite  a  different  type, 
refers  to  Bancroft  as  'that  great  and  wise  prelate.'  In  short, 
with  the  single  exception  of  Burnet,  it  is  not  easy  to  find 
one  contemporary  or  nearly  contemporary  churchman,  who 
does  not  speak  with  tender  respect  of  Bancroft's  character ; 
and  justly.  If  he  had  his  foibles,  he  might  have  said  of  all 
his  conduct,  what  he  did  say  of  one  memorable  incident  of 
his  life,  '  What  I  have  done,  I  have  done  in  the  integrity  of 
my  heart.' 

If  Bancroft  was  the  antipodes,  of  Sheldon,  San  croft's 
successor  was  as  unlike  the  one  as  he  was  the  other.  John 
Tillotson  (1630-1694)  was  the  son  of  a  Calvinist  clothier 
at  Sowerby  near  Halifax ;  he  received  the  rudiments  of  his 
education  from  his  grandfather,  Mr.  Dod,  a  strict  Puritan. 
At  Clare  Hall,  Cambridge,  his  tutor,  Mr.  Clarkson,  who  had 
great  influence  over  him,  was  also  a  strict  Puritan.  He 
was  elected  fellow  of  Clare  in  1651,  of  course  under 
Puritan  auspices,  and  was  appointed  tutor  to  a  son  of  Mr. 
Prideaux,  Oliver  Cromwell's  attorney-general.  At  the  Ke- 
storation  he  lost  his  fellowship  as  a  nonconformist,  but  he 

with  it '  (Nicolson's  Correspondence,  i.  11),  though  he  himself  took  a  dif 
ferent  view. 

1  Swift's  Ode  to  his  Memory  is  valuable,  if  not  from  a  poetical,  from  an 
evidential  point  of  view. 

2  See  his  Absalom  and  Achitophel. 

3  See  letter  in  the  Clarendon  Correspondence,  ii.  484. 


58          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

conformed  after  the  Act  of  1662.  He  married  a  niece  of 
Oliver  Cromwell,  and  step-daughter  of  Dr.  Wilkins.  Among 
his  intimate  friends  were  Thomas  Firmin,  a  very  benevo 
lent  Socinian,  Dr.  Bates,  the  Presbyterian  vicar  of  S. 
Dunstan's  in  the  West,  Mr.  Gouge,  a  liberal  dissenter,  whose 
funeral  sermon  he  preached,  the  excellent  nonconformist 
John  Howe,  to  whom  he  was  wont  to  send  a  copy  of  every 
sermon  he  published,  William  Penn,  the  Quaker,  and  finally 
William,  Prince  of  Orange.  With  such  antecedents  and 
such  friends,  it  would  have  been  strange  indeed  if  he  had 
caught  the  spirit  of  the  English  Church.  It  is  true  that 
he  also  numbered  among  his  friends  some  of  her  truest 
sons,  such  as  John  Sharp,  Eobert  Nelson,  Thomas  Comber, 
and  Isaac  Barrow;  and  the  fact  that  he  could  attract  to 
him  men  of  such  very  different  sentiments,  is  a  strong  proof 
of  his  amiability,  no  less  than  of  his  wide  sympathies.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  dwell  on  the  facts  of  his  life,  and  tell  how 
he  held  for  a  short  time  the  little  living  of  Keddington,  where 
the  villagers  were  dissatisfied  because  he  did  not  preach  the 
gospel ;  how  he  then  became  preacher  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  and 
Tuesday  lecturer  at  S.  Lawrence  Jewry,  and  not  only 
satisfied  but  delighted,  and  attracted  from  all  parts  of  the 
metropolis,  the  most  critical  congregations ;  how  he  was 
made  Dean,  first  of  Canterbury,  and  then,  on  the  accession 
of  his  friend  King  William,  of  S.  Paul's.  Higher  than 
this  he  never  desired  to  rise ;  there  is  evidently  sincerity 
and  deep  earnestness  in  his  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Portland, 
desiring  him  '  to  defend  him  from  a  bishopric '  ;  and  the 
reason  he  gives  is  a  most  cogent  one.1  It  would  have 

1  '  I  earnestly  beg  of  your  Lordship  to  defend  me  from  a  bishopric.  Few 
can  believe  me  in  this,  but  I  hope  your  Lordship  does.  ...  I  do  not  love 
either  the  ceremony  or  trouble  of  a  great  place.  When  men  are  children 
again,  it  is  not  fit  they  should  appear  in  public,  but  go  back  into  the  nursery. 
I  desire  to  be  as  useful  as  I  can ;  but  I  do  not  affect  to  be  famous.  .  .  . 
That  little  good  which  I  have  been  able  to  do  has  been  in  the  City  of  London, 
which  I  foresee  will  be  stript  of  its  ablest  men  ;  and  if  I  can  be  serviceable 
anywhere,  it  is  there.  ...  I  think  it  may  be  somewhat  for  the  honour  of 
our  religion,  and  the  advantage  of  the  Government,  to  have  one  so  hearty 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  59 

been  well  for  him  if  his  desire  had  been  attended  to, 
but  in  an  evil  hour  for  his  happiness,  he  was  persuaded 
by  his  beloved  and  loving  master  to  accept  the  primacy  on 
the  deprivation  of  Bancroft.  It  was  not  without  many 
misgivings,  and  much  consultation  with  his  friends,1 
that  he  at  last  consented  to  fill  the  invidious  position. 
Under  any  circumstances,  considering  his  antecedents,  he 
would  hardly  have  been  the  man  for  the  place ;  but  of  all 
times,  the  time  when  he  undertook  it  was  the  most  un 
fortunate.  An  angel  could  hardly  have  given  satisfaction. 
Bancroft  most  assuredly  carried  away  with  him  to  Fressing- 
field  the  sympathies  of  the  vast  majority  of  the  clergy  ; 
many  of  those  who  had  no  scruple  about  taking  the  oaths, 
had  insuperable  scruples  about  accepting  sees  of  which 
the  bishops  had  been  deprived  by  the  civil  power ;  among 
others,  John  Sharp,  Tillotson's  best  friend,  and  Beveridge, 
two  of  the  most  respected  clergy  of  the  day.  A  torrent  of 
invectives  in  the  shape  of  pamphlets,  sermons,2  and  even 
coarser  attacks  3  was  poured  upon  the  new  Primate's  head. 
And  unfortunately  neither  his  temperament  nor  his  train 
ing  fitted  him  for  bearing  such  attacks.  He  was  a  man 
of  a  singularly  sweet,  gentle,  and  sensitive  nature  :  he 
never  treated  unkindly  any  living  creature,  and  he  felt 
most  keenly  any  unkind  treatment  of  himself.  The  career 
of  a  popular  preacher  is  the  worst  conceivable  career 
for  training  a  man  to  bear  heavy  blows.  Accustomed  to 
see  himself  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  admiring  auditors 
who  hung  breathless  upon  his  words,  he  felt  the  rude 
shock  of  assault  all  the  more  keenly  from  the  contrast.  To 
his  credit  be  it  said,  that  he  was  never  intoxicated  with  the 

for  both  without  any  expectation  or  desire  of  preferment  by  it.'  (Quoted  in 
Birch's  Life  of  Tillotson,  pp.  140-2.) 

1  Among  others,  oddly  enough,  Lady  Rachel  Russell.  See  Account  of 
her  Life,  p.  97. 

-  See  Birch,  pp.  292,  351. 

3  See  the  story  of  a  mask  being  sent  to  him  in  Macaulay's  History  of 
England,  chapter  xvii. 


60          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

incense  which  was  offered  to  him  as  a  preacher,  and  never 
tempted  to  retaliation  hy  any  of  the  abuse  with  which  he 
was  pelted  as  a  prelate.  But  there  is  little  doubt  that  the 
latter  tended  to  shorten  his  life.  There  is  something  very 
touching  in  the  resolution,  recorded  in  his  commonplace 
book,  and  not  found  till  after  his  death,  '  not  to  be  angry 
with  anybody  upon  any  occasion ;  '  and  something  more 
than  touching  in  the  story  of  a  packet  of  papers  being  also 
found  after  his  death,  with  this  endorsement :  '  These  are 
libels ;  I  pray  God  forgive  the  authors,  as  I  do.'  He  did 
forgive,  but  he  could  not  forget ;  the  mere  fact  of  his  having 
kept  them  so  carefully  shows  what  an  impression  they 
made  upon  him.  He  only  held  the  primacy  for  three  short 
years,  dying  a  few  weeks  before  the  young  queen,  whom  he 
had  loved  so  well  and  served  so  faithfully.  Waving  the 
question  of  his  fitness  for  the  archbishopric,  and  postponing 
to  a  future  chapter  any  remarks  upon  his  preaching,  we 
may  note  that  his  personal  character  was  most  estimable  ; 
unselfish,  exceedingly  charitable,  both  in  the  popular  and 
in  the  higher  sense  of  the  term,  and  containing  a  happy 
mixture  of  qualities  not  often  found  in  combination;  for 
he  was  warm-hearted  without  being  in  the  least  warm- 
tempered  ;  a  most  ardent  friend,  without  being  at  all  a 
bitter  foe.  In  fact,  there  was  so  much  to  admire  in  him 
that  one  can  only  be  sorry  that  he  was  ever  placed  in  a 
position  in  which  his  gentle  nature  could  not  fail  to  be 
continually  wounded. 

Tillotson's  successor  was  Thomas  Tenison  (1634-1715),  a 
man  who  for  thirty  years  after  the  Eestoration  had  been 
engaged  most  energetically  and  most  successfully  as  a  parish 
priest,  first  at  S.  Andrew's,  Cambridge,  where  he  gained 
deserved  credit  by  staying  manfully  at  his  post  and  minis 
tering  to  his  distressed  parishioners  during  the  Plague,  and 
then  in  London,  as  rector  of  the  large  and  very  important 
parish  of  S.  Martin's  in  the  Fields,  which  he  managed 
admirably.  He  was  known  and  admired  as  a  preacher, 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  6 1 

but  still  more  as  a  parish-worker.  Evelyn  is  afraid  « the 
paines  he  takes,  and  the  care  of  his  parish,  will  weare  him 
out,  which  would  be  an  inexpressible  loss.' l  In  the  brave 
resistance  made  by  the  clergy,  especially  in  London,  against 
the  efforts  of  King  James  to  Eomanise  his  subjects,  the 
rector  of  S.  Martin's  took  a  prominent  part ;  it  was  largely 
through  his  efforts  that  Sharp's  suspension  for  preaching 
against  Popery  was  removed  ; 2  and  it  was  through  his 
desire  to  counteract  Romanism  that  he  became  one  of  the 
originators  of  one  of  the  most  useful  and  prosperous  works 
of  the  period,  the  charity  schools,  of  which  more  will  be 
said  presently.  He  was  appointed  to  S.  Martin's  on  the 
recommendation  of  Patrick,  who  '  blesses  God  for  having 
placed  so  good  a  man  in  the  post.'3  The  testimony  of  so 
near  a  neighbour  and  so  good  a  worker  himself,  is  more 
than  sufficient  to  counterbalance  Lord  Dartmouth's  depre 
ciatory  account  of  his  promotion.4  But  in  point  of  fact 
there  is  a  pretty  general  unanimity,  even  among  his  de 
tractors,  about  his  excellence  as  a  parish  priest,  and  perhaps 
he  would  have  been  thought  more  highly  of  if  he  had  lived 
and  died  in  that  capacity.  But  in  1691  he  was  most 
reluctantly  removed  to  preside  over  the  unwieldy  diocese  of 
Lincoln,  which,  according  to  Kennet,  he  restored  to  some 
kind  of  discipline  and  order,  and  after  three  years  he  was 
removed  to  Canterbury.  Here  all  unanimity  of  opinion  as 
to  his  merits  ceases.  Whigs  like  Burnet  and  Kennet  praise 
the  appointment,  and  the  latter  boldly  declares  it  was 
universally  approved  of.5  This  most  assuredly  was  not  the 
case.  Apart  from  his  opinions,  which  were  supposed  to  be 
those  of  Tillotson,  and  were  most  unacceptable  to  the  ma 
jority  of  the  clergy,  he  was  not  considered  strong  enough 
for  the  place,  and  this  feeling  was  emphasised  by  the  fact 

1  Diary  for  March  21,  IGSf . 

2  See  John  Le  Neve's  Lives  <&c.  of  the  Bishops,  &c.,  p.  239. 

3  Autobiography  of  Simon  Patrick,  p.  84. 

4  See  Lord  Dartmouth's  Notes  on  Burnet,  iv.  238. 

5  History  of  England,  vol.  iii.  682. 


62  LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

that  the  man  who  was  generally  pointed  out  as  the  proper 
person  to  fill  it  was  the  strongest  living  clergyman,  Bishop 
Stillingneet.1  It  would  probably  have  been  well  for  the 
peace  of  the  Church  if  Stillingneet  had  been  appointed, 
even  though  his  bodily  infirmities  might  have  impeded  his 
activity.  For  in  those  turbulent  times,  a  prelate  with  a 
great  name,  a  name  that  would  inspire  awe,  was  above  all 
things  required  at  the  helm.  Stillingfleet's  was  such  a 
name,  Tenison's  was  not.  His  friends  called  him  firm  and 
steady,  '  an  old  rock,'  his  enemies,  dull  and  heavy ;  but 
neither  called  him  great.  In  one  respect,  however,  he  was 
certainly  more  fitted  for  the  post  than  Tillotson,  for  he  was 
not  in  the  least  sensitive.  Abuse,  which  was  showered  upon 
him  as  plentifully  as  it  had  been  upon  his  predecessor,  did 
not  trouble  him  at  all.  He  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty- one, 
and  left  behind  him  the  reputation  of  an  honest  and  sensible, 
a  solid  and  stolid,  but  by  no  means  brilliant  man. 

It  is  a  pleasant  relief  to  turn  from  prelates  about  whom 
there  has  certainly  been  a  great  diversity  of  opinion  to  one 
about  whom  there  was  no  diversity  at  all.  John  Sharp, 
(1644-1714)  is  a  striking  instance  of  what  a  plain,  straight 
forward,  guileless  man,  with  definite  principles,  but  without 
very  shining  abilities,  or  profound  learning,  or  peculiar 
attractiveness  of  manner,  or  extraordinary  enthusiasm, 
may  effect.  As  rector  of  S.  Giles'  in  the  Fields  for  sixteen 
years,  as  Dean,  first  of  Norwich,  then  of  Canterbury,  and 
above  all  as  Archbishop  of  York  for  twenty  years,  he  was 
respected  and  beloved  in  a  very  remarkable  degree.  And 
the  fact  that  he  was  so  is  really  very  creditable  to  his  con 
temporaries,  for  from  first  to  last  he  never  once  went  out 
of  his  way  to  court  the  popular  applause.  In  one  of  his 
sermons 2  he  has  unwittingly  given  us  an  exact  portrait  of 

1  The  queen  was  most  anxious  for  Stillingfleet's  appointment ;  Tillotson 
had  strongly  recommended  him  for   the  primacy,  on  the  deprivation  of 
Sancroft. 

2  That  on  '  The  Upright  Man,'  from  Psalm  cxii.  ver.  4. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  63 

himself.  '  He  lives  as  he  believes,  is  ready  to  endure  anything 
for  religious  principles,  is  honest  God-ward,  an  Israelite  in 
deed,  in  whom  there  is  no  guile  ;  and  with  respect  to  men,  is 
just  in  all  his  dealings,  never  takes  advantage  of  credulity, 
nor  abuses  confidence  reposed  in  him,  hates  all  mean  com 
pliance  and  dares  to  speak  his  mind,  is  a  man  of  great 
simplicity  and  plainness,  open  and  free.  You  may  always 
know  where  to  have  him,  for  his  words  and  thoughts  always 
go  together  ; — above  all  things  hates  a  trick  ;  so  free  is  both 
his  heart  and  actions  from  all  imposture,  that  he  cares  not 
if  all  the  world  were  privy  to  them.  With  the  wisdom  of 
the  serpent  he  joins  the  innocency  and  simplicity  of  the 
dove  ;  he  is  not  steered  by  the  wind  of  popular  applause, 
but  the  sense  of  duty  ;  therefore  he  is  of  great  courage  and 
resolution  ;  nothing  can  frighten  him  from  his  duty,  for  he 
fears  none  but  God.  He  does  not  resolve  hastily,  but  after 
mature  deliberation  ;  he  always  considers  more  what  is  said, 
than  who  says  it.  You  may  as  soon  draw  the  sun  from  his 
line,  as  him  from  the  steady  and  strict  paths  of  righteous 
ness.'  And  so  forth.  If  anyone  had  been  preaching 
Archbishop  Sharp's  funeral  sermon,  giving,  after  the 
fashion  of  the  times,  a  full  description  of  the  man,  he 
could  hardly  have  done  better  than  have  taken  this  sermon 
verbatim.  Being  a  staunch  and  uncompromising,  though 
not  extreme,  churchman,  Sharp  was  of  course  often 
brought  into  collision  with  others,  but  he  always  came  out 
of  the  struggle  with  general  approval.  His  famous  sermon 
in  1686  against  Eomanism,  just  after  he  had  been  appointed 
chaplain  to  a  Komanist  king,  was  manifestly  called  for,1  and 
though  it  enraged  his  royal  master,  was  approved  of  by  the 
vast  majority  of  the  nation.  And  his  declining  to  accept 
any  see  vacated  by  a  deprived  bishop,  though  it  gave  dis- 

1  He  had  been  applied  to  anonymously  by  a  parishioner  to  give  some 
safeguard  against  Romanism,  and  as  the  danger  of  Eomanism  was  then 
most  imminent,  he  could  not,  without  gross  neglect  of  duty,  have  failed  to 
preach  on  the  subject. 


64          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

pleasure  to  King  William,  was  not  displeasing  to  the  mass 
of  his  fellow-churchmen.  Though,  like  his  friend  Tillotson, 
he  was  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  nonconformists,  such  as 
Baxter,  Firmin,  and  Thoresby,  no  one  ever  accused  him  of 
truckling  to  dissenters,  or  being  half-one  himself,  for  he 
made  it  perfectly  clear  that  it  was  their  persons  not  their 
principles  that  he  esteemed.  Burnet,  as  a  rule,  never 
praises  anyone  who  differed  from  himself,  but  though  Sharp 
differed  widely  from  him,  he  makes  an  exception  in  his 
favour.  William  Whiston  differed  from  him  still  more 
widely,  and  yet  it  is  William  Whiston  who  calls  him  '  that 
very  good,  that  very  honest  man,  Archbishop  Sharp.'  The 
nonjurors  were  not  inclined  to  regard  with  a  favourable 
eye  those  clergy  who  took  the  oaths,  but  they,  too,  bear 
their  testimony  to  the  merits  of  Sharp.  He  had  the  invi 
dious  privilege  of  dispensing  a  vast  amount  of  ecclesiastical 
patronage,  first  through  his  friend  and  patron,  the  Earl  of 
Nottingham,  who  consulted  him  about  all  the  preferments 
he  had  to  bestow  as  Lord  Chancellor,  and  then  through 
Queen  Anne,  who  took  him  for  her  adviser  and  spiritual 
director ;  and  yet  he  never  raised  against  himself  any  envy, 
nor  ever  caused  any  dissatisfaction,  except  in  one  noticeable 
case  where  he  was  clearly  in  the  right  l  He  opposed,  or  at 
any  rate  regarded  with  some  suspicion,  the  Societies  for  the 
Reformation  of  Manners ;  but  no  one  ever  dreamed  of  sus 
pecting  him  of  being  indifferent  to  the  cause  which  these 
Societies  had  at  heart,  for  he  made  it  clearly  understood 
that  he  thought  that  cause  would  be  better  helped  by  clergy 
men  adhering  to  their  proper  clerical  work,  and  carrying 
out  more  fully  the  plain  rules  of  their  Church.  No  one 
ever  told  a  sovereign  more  unreservedly  of  her  faults  than 

1  When  he  prevented  the  author  of  The  Tale  of  a  Tub  from  being  made 
a  bishop.     Swift,  in  consequence,  gibbeted  him  in  the  line  : 
A  crazy  prelate,  and  a  r — 1  prude. 

The  latter  refers  to  the  queen,  who  in  this  as  in  all  spiritual  matters  took 
Sharp's  advice  not  to  elevate  Swift  to  the  mitre. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  65 

he  told  Queen  Anne,  and  yet  he  never  offended  her.  The 
only  blot  in  his  career  is  an  occasional  narrowness.  Judged 
by  the  standard  of  the  nineteenth  century,  he  certainly 
shewed  bitterness  in  his  opposition  to  Dissenters'  Seminaries, 
but  he  must  be  judged  by  the  standard  of  the  times  in 
which  he  lived  ;  it  was  on  Tillotson's  advice  that  he  refused 
to  license  a  Dissenters'  Academy,  and  no  one  accused  Tillotson 
of  being  narrow-minded  according  to  the  standard  of  his 
day.  In  one  sense  he  was  certainly  not  a  narrow  man  ;  he 
had  tastes  quite  apart  from  his  clerical  functions ;  he  was 
a  great  reader  and  admirer  of  Shakespeare,  an  extensive 
collector  of  coins,  and  a  good  numismatist.  These,  how 
ever,  were  strictly  bye-works  ;  his  whole  heart  was  in  his 
proper  work ;  and  a  more  beautiful  picture  of  active  piety 
has  been  seldom  drawn  than  that  which  his  son  has  left  us 
in  the  interesting  but  by  no  means  highly  coloured  portrait 
of  his  father.  Everything  that  the  biographer  tells  us  is 
borne  out  by  what  we  hear  from  less  interested  sources. 
We  may  meet  with  greater  men  in  the  course  of  this  chapter, 
but  with  none  more  universally  and  deservedly  esteemed. 

We  next  come  to  a  somewhat  different  type  of  prelate 
from  any  that  have  yet  been  noticed.  Heiiry  Compton 
(1633-1713) l  was  the  youngest  son  of  Spencer,  Earl  of 
Northampton.  His  father  and  all  his  five  elder  brothers 
had  served  the  king  with  conspicuous  courage ; 2  nor  was 
the  future  prelate  a  stranger  to  military  service.  Indeed, 
he  is  said  to  have  been  *  in  the  field  at  Edge  Hill  fight  in  his 
cradle,  and  to  have  trailed  a  pike  in  Flanders  under  the 
Duke  of  York.' 3  At  the  Kestoration  he  was  promoted  in 
rather  a  different  way  from  those  other  clergy  with  whom 


1  The  short  Life  of  Henry,  late  Bislwp  of  London^gives  1711  as  the 
date  of  his  death,  but  it  is  quite  clear  that  John  Eobinson  succeeded  him 
as  Bishop  of  London  in  1713,  and  Compton  died  in  the  see. 

2  His  father  was  slain  at  the  battle  of  Hopton  Heath. 

3  Account  of  My  Own  Life,  by  Edmund  Calamy,  ii.  40.     As  the  battle  of 
Edge  Hill  was  fought  in  1642,  he  was  rather  a  large  baby  for  a  cradle. 


66          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

he  was  afterwards  brought  into  contact ;  he  was  made  for 
his  services  a  cornet  of  the  Koyal  Horse  Guards.1  But 
soon  afterwards  he  went  to  Cambridge,  and  became  an 
officer  in  another  sort  of  army,  that  of  the  Church  Militant. 
Then  his  promotion  was  rapid;  he  was  made  Canon  of 
Christ  Church,  then  rector  of  Cottenham,  then  Master  of 
S.  Cross,  then  Bishop  of  Oxford,  and  finally  Bishop  of 
London,  over  which  see  he  presided  between  thirty  and 
forty  years.  He  was  also  tutor  to  the  two  Princesses, 
Mary  and  Anne,  both  of  whom  he  confirmed  and  married. 
Compton  was  called  emphatically  the  Protestant  Bishop. 
Not  that  any  of  the  prelates,  noticed  or  to  be  noticed,  were 
one  whit  less  hostile  to  the  cause  of  Kome  than  he  was ; 
but  Protestantism  was  his  speciality.  He  was  a  great 
patron  of  converts  from  Popery  and  a  generous  friend  to 
the  French  Protestant  refugees.  He  manfully  resisted  the 
king's  mandate  to  suspend  Sharp  for  preaching  against 
Eomanism  in  1686,  and  was  consequently  himself  inhibited 
from  exercising  his  episcopal  functions  by  the  new  Eccle 
siastical  Commission,2  and  he  lay  under  the  sentence  of 
suspension  until  the  Kevolution.  This  increased  his  popu 
larity  immensely ;  '  he  was  the  darling,'  writes  a  contem 
porary,  '  of  the  city  and  parliament  because  of  his  great 
zeal  in  the  discouragement  of  Papists  and  Popery.' 3  But 
his  Protestantism,  combined  with  the  old  leaven  of  his 
military  training,  led  him  into  courses  quite  unbefitting 
his  character.4  A  prelate  fully  armed,  commanding  a 
troop  of  soldiers  and  escorting  a  daughter  in  her  de- 

1  Birch's  Life  of  Tillotson,  p.  185. 

2  Memoirs  of  the  Most  Material  Transactions  in  England  for  the  last 
Hundred  Years  preceding  the  Revolution,  by  James  Welwood,  p.  175. 

3  See  the  Diary  of  Dr.  Edward  Lake,  1677-8.     In  the  next  generation, 
Welwood  (ut  supra]  declares  that  '  this  noble  prelate  by  a  conduct  worthy 
of  his  birth  and  station  in  the  Church  acquired  the  love  and  esteem  of  all 
the  Protestant  Churches  at  home  and  abroad.'     (See  also  Sir  John  Keresby's 
Diary,  p.  321.) 

4  He  signed  an  invitation  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  then  denied  it  in 
the  presence  of  King  James.     (Lathbury,  p.  17.) 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  67 

sertion  of  a  father  is  not  an  edifying  spectacle ;  nor  was 
it  becoming  his  sacred  character  to  appear  in  arms  at 
Nottingham,  and  declare  his  readiness  to  fight  for  the 
Prince  of  Orange.  He  was  much  better  employed  in  the 
proper  work  of  his  diocese,  in  which  he  appears  to  have 
been  exceptionally  active.  One  part  of  his  system  may  be 
commended  (if  it  be  not  impertinent  in  a  simple  priest  to 
do  so)  to  the  imitation  of  prelates  in  our  own  day.  He  had 
a  method  of  passing  every  summer  in  some  new  part  of  his 
diocese,  riding  out  every  day  to  visit  in  person  the  churches 
and  parsonage-houses.1  Thus  seeing  with  his  own  eyes 
the  poverty  of  many  of  the  clergy,  he  naturally  took  a 
great  interest  in  the  attempt  to  better  the  condition  of  the 
smaller  cures.  He  also  upheld  the  Eeligious  Societies,  and 
his  support  of  them  greatly  conduced  to  their  success.2 
His  '  Episcopalia,'  six  excellent  Letters  written  to  the  Clergy 
of  London  in  1680-6,  give  one  the  impression  of  a  man 
who  was  personally  well-versed  in  practical  work,  and  also 
of  a  man  of  firmness  and  independent  judgment.3  In  fact 
he  was  a  good  working  bishop,  not  perhaps  strong  enough 
to  be  advanced  to  the  primacy,  though  he  is  said  to  have 
been  twice  disappointed  at  being  passed  over,  but  a  more 
than  respectable  Bishop  of  London. 

It  really  requires  some  little  effort  in  one  who  desires  to 
bring  out  the  good  points  of  the  clergy  of  our  period  to  do 
justice  to  the  undoubted  merits  of  one,  who  above  all  others 
is  responsible  for  the  evil  reputation  in  which  they  are  some 
times  held.  Gilbert  Burnet  (1643-1715)  has  shewn  so  extra 
ordinary  a  propensity  to  depreciate  the  clergy  in  his  '  History 

1  Nathaniel  Salmon's  Lives  of  the  English  Bishops  from  the  Restaura- 
tion  to  the  Revolution  : — Compton. 

2  See  Secretan's  Life  of  Robert  Nelson. 

3  And  certainly  not  '  weak,  wilful,  much  in  the  power  of  others  and 
strangely  wedded  to  a  party,'  as  Birch  (Life  of  Tillotson,  p.  185),  copying 
Burnet  (Own  Times,  iv.  388),  and  adding  a  little  of  his  own,  describes  him. 
The  Fpiscopalia,  or  Letters  of  Henry,  Bishop  of  London,  to  the  Clergy  of 
his  Diocese,  are  well  worth  reading. 

F  2 


68          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

of  his  Own  Times,'  that  it  is  not  surprising  that  a  host  of 
writers  have  entered  their  indignant  protest  against  his  mis 
representations.  Lord  Dartmouth,1  Bevill  Higgons,2  Natha 
niel  Salmon,3  Dean  Swift,4  Bishop  Atterbury,5  Eoger  North,6 
in  the  last  century  ;  Mr.  Von  Ranke,7  Mr.  Carwithen,8  Mr. 
Debary,9  Mr.  Palin,10  and  many  others  in  our  own,  have  suffi 
ciently  exposed  this  great  delinquency— a  delinquency  which 
is  all  the  more  provoking  because  it  has  naturally  given  a 
handle  to  adversaries  to  cast  in  the  teeth  of  churchmen  the 
evil  report  of  the  clergy  which  '  even  one  of  their  own  order ' 
has  given.11  Even  Lord  Macaulay,  Burnet's  admirer,  ad 
mits  that  he  possessed  qualities  which  are  fatal  to  accurate 
writing.  A  man  who  is  '  boastful,  vain,  prone  to  blunder,  pro- 
vokingly  indiscreet,  often  misled  by  prejudice  and  passion,' l 
1  utterly  destitute  of  delicacy  and  tact/  '  viewing  every 
act  and  every  character  through  a  medium  distorted  and 
coloured  by  party  spirit,' 13  may  have  many  good  points, 
as  Burnet  unquestionably  had,  but  surely  he  mistakes 
his  vocation  when  he  essays  to  write  history ;  and,  of  all 
histories,  a  history  of  his  own  times,  where  these  qualities 
are  of  course  brought  into  most  vigorous  play.  But  our 
indignation  at  the  historian  must  not  blind  us  to  the  merits 

1  Notes  on  Burnet's  Own  Times,  republished  at  Oxford  in  1823. 

2  '  Remarks  on  Burnet's  History  of  his  own  Times,'  in  Volume  II.  of 
Higgon's  Historical  Works,  1736. 

3  An  partial  Examination  of  Bishop  Burnet's  History,  &c.,  1724 ; 
and  Lives  of  the  English  BisJwps,  &c.,  passim,  1733. 

4  See  Lord  Dartmouth's  work,  ut  supra. 

5  Works,  passim.  6  See  Examen,  passim. 

7  History  of  England,  principally  in  the  seventeenth  Century,  passim. 

8  History  of  the  Church  of  England. 

9  History  of  Church  of  England  from  the  Accession  of  James  I.  to  1717. 

10  Church  of  England',  1688-1717. 

11  See,  inter  alia,  Edmund  Calamy's  Account  of  My  Own  Life,  i.  457, 
and  passim ;  William  Carstares,  a  CJiaracter  and  Career  of  the  Revolu 
tionary  Epoch,  by  E.  H.   Story,  p.  23  &c. ;     History  of  England  in  the 
Cabinet  Cyclopedia,  a  work  full  of  abuse  of  the  Church  and  clergy,  passim ; 
and  Skeat's  History  of  the  Free  Churches,  p.  97. 

12  Macaulay's  History  of  England,  i.  413.  l3  Id.  i.  593. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  69 

of  the  man.  Burnet's  greatest  detractors  have  not  denied 
that  he  was  a  most  energetic  worker,  both  as  a  parish 
priest  and  as  a  bishop.  No  diocese  was  more  carefully 
attended  to  by  its  bishop  than  that  of  Salisbury  during  the 
twenty-six  years  when  Burnet  presided  over  it.  When  he 
reluctantly  consented  to  become  tutor  to  the  Duke  of  Glou 
cester,  it  was  on  the  express  condition  that  he  should  reside 
at  Windsor,  which  was  then  within  the  diocese  of  Salisbury, 
and  be  allowed  ten  weeks  every  summer  for  the  purpose 
of  visiting  his  people  : l  with  his  usual  energy  he  made  the 
very  most  of  these  ten  weeks,  so  that  there  was  hardly  a 
corner  of  the  diocese  which  was  not  well  acquainted  with 
the  burly  form  and  loud  voice  of  its  bustling  bishop.2  Nor 
was  his  energy  confined  to  his  own  local  work.  He  thought 
nothing  of  going  frequently  from  London  to  Woodstock  to 
visit  the  poor  penitent  Earl  of  Eochester,  of  whose  conver 
sion  he  was  to  a  great  extent  the  human  instrument.3  He 
found  time  to  write  letters  of  good  advice  to  Lady  Eussell;4 
and  if  he  was  not  the  sole  originator  of  that  excellent  work 
Queen  Anne's  Bounty,  as  he  characteristically  claims  to 
have  been,  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  deserves  a  great  share 
in  the  credit  of  it.  Though  a  self-conscious,  he  was  certainly 
not  a  selfish  man  ;  he  refused  many  preferments  and  was 
liberal  with  his  money,  as  many,  both  clergy  and  laity,  to 
whom  he  was  a  kind  friend,  could  have  testified.5  His 
'  Pastoral  Care,'  '  Discourses  to  his  Clergy,'  '  Conclusion  to 
his  History,'  and  '  Lives  of  Bishop  Bedell,  Sir  Matthew 
Hale,  and  John,  Earl  of  Eochester,'  all  breathe  the  spirit 
of  sincere  piety,  though  even  some  of  these  are  provokingly 
interspersed  with  his  favourite  depreciation  of  the  clergy. 


1  Life  of  Burnet,  by  his  son  Thomas,  p.  Ivii.  -  Id.  p.  xliii. 

3  If  this  depended  solely  upon  Burnet's  own  testimony  we  should  have 
to  take  it  cum  grano  ;  but  Mr.  Parsons,  in  his  funeral  sermon  on  Kochester, 
admits  the  Earl's  obligation  to  Burnet. 

4  Some  Account  of  Rachel  Wriothesley,  Lady  Russell,  p.  54. 

5  Life,  p.  Ixii. 


70          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

He  frequently  hurt  delicate  spirits  by  his  utter  want  of 
tact,1  and  his  officiousness  sometimes  led  him  to  interfere 
in  matters  which  he  had  much  better  have  left  alone;  but 
in  most  cases  one  can  see  that  the  offence  arose  from  a 
sort  of  blundering  impulsiveness  which  really  meant  well, 
though  it  took  an  odd  way  of  shewing  it.  He  lived  in 
turbulent  times,  and  he  was  the  very  last  man  to  pour  oil 
on  the  troubled  waters ;  he  filled  a  very  prominent  place  in 
the  Church,  while  both  by  training  and  temperament  he 
was  not  calculated  to  sympathise  with  its  principles.  There 
is  therefore  not  the  slightest  difficulty  in  accounting  for  his 
unpopularity  among  the  clergy,  without  having  recourse  to 
the  utterly  gratuitous  explanation  attributed  to  Lord  Halifax, 
that  '  his  parts  were  a  shame  and  his  life  a  scandal  to 
them.' 2 

If  contrasts  be  effective,  we  could  not  find  a  more  perfect 
one  than  by  turning  from  Salisbury  to  the  neighbouring 
diocese  of  Bath  and  Wells.  Thomas  Ken  (1637-1711)  is  one 
about  whose  career  and  character  there  is  a  charm  which 
strikes  the  imagination  and  kindles  the  enthusiasm  of 
churchmen  of  every  shade.  So  happy  a  blending  of  humi 
lity  and  gentleness  with  undaunted  courage,  of  firm  and 
uncompromising  principles  with  large-hearted  charity  to 
others,  of  homely  simplicity  with  delicate  refinement,  has 
rarely  been  found  in  any  age.  All  the  details  of  his  life  are 
interesting,  but  for  these  the  reader  must  be  referred  to  his 

1  E.g.  Norris  of  Bemerton,  Kettlewell,  Dodwell,  Ken,  Ealph  Thoresby. 

2  With  these  words  Thomas  Burnet,  in  the  life  of  his  father,  concludes  a 
long  quotation  of  abuse  of  the  clergy  and  praise  of  Gilbert  Burnet,  supposed 
to  have  been  written  by  Lord  Halifax,  but  of  which  Thomas  had  '  mislaid 
the  original.'      Lord  Dartmouth  boldly  declares  that  Lord  Halifax  could 
never  have  said  or  written  anything  of  the  sort,  because  he  had  often  heard 
him  express  anything  but  a  favourable  opinion  of  Bishop  Burnet ;  '  there 
fore,'  he  says,  'I  believe  Tom  must  have  been  mistaken,  and  that  it  will 
appear,  if  ever  he  finds  the  original,  to  be  in  his  father's,  not  in  the  mar 
quis's,  own  handwriting.'     Be  this  as  it  may,  it  was  surely  most  injudicious 
in  the  son  (who  appears  to  have  been  a  fac-simile  of  his  father)  to  insert  so 
sweeping  and  slanderous  an  accusation  of  all  prelates  except  Bishop  Burnet, 
unless  he  could  produce  far  better  authority  than  he  does. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  7 1 

biographers.1  It  must  here  suffice  to  say  that  he  was  born 
at  Berkhampstead,  and  educated  at  Winchester.  Having 
lost  his  parents  in  early  life,  he  was  brought  up  as  a  kind 
of  adopted  son  by  his  eldest  sister,  the  wife  of  Izaac  Walton, 
with  whom  he  lived  in  retirement  until  the  Eestoration. 
One  can  hardly  help  wishing  that  the  ages  of  the  two 
brothers-in-law  had  been  reversed,  for  what  a  fine  subject 
Ken  would  have  made  for  one  of  Walton's  '  Lives  ' !  Ken 
was  ordained  in  1660,  and  was  soon  afterwards  presented 
by  his  friend  Lord  Maynard  to  the  small  living  of  Easton 
in  Essex.  He  did  not  stay  there  long,  for  Bishop  Morley 
gathered  round  him  in  the  Close  at  Winchester  those  true 
friends  of  his  adversity,  the  whole  family  of  the  Waltons, 
and  among  them,  Ken,  whom  he  made  his  chaplain  and 
to  whom  he  gave  the  living  of  Brighstone.  He  next  became 
vicar  of  East  Woodhay,  and,  contrary  to  the  evil  custom  of 
the  time,  gave  up  Brighstone  on  the  day  of  his  appointment. 
He  was  next  made  Prebendary  of  Winchester,  and  then  chap 
lain  to  the  Princess  of  Orange  in  Holland;  his  influence 
over  the  Princess  was  very  great,  too  great  to  please  her 
husband,  who  had  no  desire  that  his  wife's  principles  should 
be  moulded  by  so  staunch  a  churchman,  though  Ken's  Pro 
testantism  was  as  strong  as  that  of  the  *  Protestant  hero ' 
himself.  We  next  find  Ken  accompanying  Lord  Dartmouth, 
as  his  chaplain,  to  Tangier.  On  his  return  to  Winchester 
he  showed  his  courage  by  refusing  to  receive  the  king's 

1  The  best  known  are  :~A  Short  Account  of  Bishop  Ken's  Life,  by  W. 
Hawkins,  Esq.,  his  executor  and  connection,  prefixed  to  Ken's  Prose  Works. 
This  was  the  earliest  life  ;  it  was  republished  (with  the  Prose  Works)  by 
J.  T.  Bound  in  1838.  Life  of  Bishop  Ken,  by  Canon  Bowles  (1830),  whose 
poetical  temperament  brought  him  into  harmony  with  Ken's  own.  Life  of 
Thomas  Ken,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  by  a  Layman  (1851),  which  is, 
perhaps,  the  best  life  of  all.  A  brief  but  well-written  memoir  by  '  G.  M.' 
(George  Mobeiiey)  prefixed  to  the  Oxford  edition  (1840)  of  Ken's  Manual 
of  Prayers  for  the  Winchester  Scholars,  and  another  by  J.  H.  Marklaiid, 
prefixed  to  his  edition  of  Ken's  Prayers  for  the  Visitors  at  Bath  (1849),  and 
a  good  sketch  in  Miss  Strickland's  Lives  of  the  Seven  Bishops  ;  and  we  are 
now  promised  another  biography  by  the  Dean  of  Wells. 


72          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

mistress  into  his  lodgings ;  and  this  proved  unexpectedly  a 
stepping-stone  to  his  advancement ;  for  King  Charles,  who 
knew  what  was  right  though  he  did  not  practise  it,  deter 
mined  that  '  the  good  little  hlack  man  who  refused  a  lodging 
to  poor  Nell '  should  have  the  next  bishopric.  He  was  ac 
cordingly  made  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells  (1684)  ;  and  his 
sweet  simplicity  of  character,  his  earnest  desire  to  do  good, 
his  courage  to  resist  evil,  and  his  large-hearted  charity  were 
as  conspicuous  in  this  new  station  as  when  he  was  in  a 
humbler  one.  He  interested  himself  in  the  poor  at  Wells, 
who  were,  he  thought,  oppressed  by  their  employers,  arid 
vainly  tried  to  improve  their  condition ;  he  shewed  an  equal 
concern  for  the  rich  but  frivolous  company  who  frequented 
'the  Bath,'  and  wrote  some  prayers  for  their  use.  He  was 
wont  to  question  beggars  on  their  knowledge  of  religion, 
and  found  them  so  hopelessly  ignorant  that  he  thought  the 
only  chance  of  improvement  was  in  raising  up  a  new  genera 
tion  who  should  be  better  taught ;  so  he  furnished  his  clergy 
with  books  for  the  use  of  children,  and  became  one  of  the 
first  pioneers  of  those  charity  schools  which  afterwards 
became  so  prominent  a  feature  in  Church  life.  He  boldly 
interfered  in  behalf  of  the  unhappy  sufferers  in  the  Mon- 
mouth  Eebellion,  though  the  damage  they  had  done  to  his 
beloved  Cathedral  must  have  wounded  him  in  a  tender 
point.  He  attended  his  royal  patron's  death-bed,  where 
even  Burnet  owns  he  '  spoke  like  one  inspired.'  And  as  he 
had  boldly  rebuked  the  licentiousness  of  one  brother,  he 
reproved  no  less  boldly  the  bigotry  of  another,  as  his  famous 
sermon  at  Whitehall,  and  his  courageous  reply  to  King 
James's  remonstrance  on  the  subject  testify.  Strong 
churchman  though  he  was,  he  would  take  no  part  in  the 
persecution  of  dissenters,  saying  that  the  Church  itself 
taught  him  charity  towards  those  who  differed  from  him. 
His  munificence  to  the  French  Protestant  refugees  stands 
out  prominently  even  among  the  munificence  with  which 
they  were  everywhere  treated.  In  fact  his  liberality  gener- 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  73 

ally  was  so  great,  that  after  the  Kevolution  he  retired  under 
protest  from  his  see,  a  poorer  man  than  when  he  accepted 
it ;  but  he  found  a  supply  for  his  simple  wants  in  the  house 
of  his  friend  Lord  Weymouth  at  Longleat,  where  he  passed 
the  remainder  of  his  blameless  life  ;  when  Longleat  was 
full  of  company,  he  fled  to  Naish  House,  the  quiet  retreat 
of  two  pious  ladies,  the  Misses  Kemeyse,  which  he  speaks  of 
as  '  his  retirement  into  the  desert  from  the  noise  and  hurry 
of  the  world.'  Like  Archbishop  Sharp,  he  had  the  happy 
knack  of  contriving  to  be  friendly  with  nonconformists 
without  in  the  least  compromising,  or  being  even  suspected 
of  compromising,  his  own  Church  principles.  Among  his 
most  frequent  visitors  at  Longleat  was  a  nonconformist 
gentleman,  Mr.  Walter  Singer,  father  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Kowe,  the  poetess.  In  his  retirement  he  composed  his  im 
mortal  morning,  evening,  and  midnight  hymns;  and  in 
doing  so,  the  old  man's  memory  had  wandered  back  to  the 
scenes  of  his  boyhood ;  for  they  were  composed,  together 
with  the  exquisite  prayers  with  which  they  were  originally 
bound  up,  for  the  use  of  the  Winchester  scholars,  who  are 
recommended  to  sing  the  evening  hymn  every  night  before 
they  went  to  bed.  His  death  was  of  a  piece  with  his  life  ; 
he  awaited  it  calmly,  travelling  about  with  his  shroud  in  his 
portmanteau  ;  and  that  the  poetical  charm  which  invests 
his  whole  life  might  not  be  wanting  from  the  last  scene  of 
all,  an  almost  dramatic  incident  occurred  at  his  funeral. 
He  was  buried  under  the  chancel  window  at  Frome,  the 
children  from  the  village  school  which  he  had  established 
and  taught  followed  him  to  the  grave  ;  the  funeral,  as  was 
usual  in  those  days,  took  place  before  daybreak ;  but  just 
as  the  last  spadeful  of  earth  was  cast  upon  the  grave,  the 
sun  rose,  and  the  children  sang  with  their  clear  young 
voices, 

Awake,  my  soul,  and  with  the  sun,  &c. 

The  name  of  Ken  has  been  universally  reverenced.    Not 
only  has  he  been  an  object  of  hero-worship  among  High 


74          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Churchmen,  but  men  who  had  little  sympathy  with  his 
views  have  sung  his  praises.  Dry  den  probably  took  him 
as  the  living  model  of  his  '  Good  Parson ' ;  the  most  licen 
tious  of  kings  never  ceased  to  value  more  highly  than  any 
other  clergyman  this  most  severely  virtuous  of  prelates; 
Lord  Macaulay,  whose  way  of  thinking  was  certainly  very 
different  from  Ken's,  declares  that '  his  character  approaches 
as  near  as  human  infirmity  permits  to  the  ideal  perfection 
of  Christian  virtue.' l  The  admiring  biographer  of  Arch 
bishop  Tenison,  who  had  naturally  no  fellow-feeling  with 
nonjurors  as  such,  yet  owns  Ken's  '  sanctity  of  life  and 
most  approved  character  in  everything  else  but  his  want  of 
submission  to  the  prince  whom  God  had  set  over  him  ! '  If 
it  were  the  wont  of  the  Church  of  England  to  canonise, 
Saint  Thomas  of  Bath  and  Wells  would  find  a  place  among 
the  first  in  her  calendar. 

If  Ken  was  the  saintliest,  by  far  the  strongest  prelate  of 
the  day  was  universally  thought  to  be  Edward  Stillingfleet 
(1635-1699).  He  was  educated  at  S.  John's,  Cambridge, 
of  which  college  he  was  elected  fellow  in  1653.  Having 
been  privately  ordained  by  Bishop  Brownrigg,  he  was  pre 
sented  by  Sir  K.  Burgoin,  in  whose  family  he  had  been 
tutor,  to  the  country  living  of  Sutton  in  1657.  Here  he 
wrote  his  'Irenicon'  and  '  Origines  Sacrse.'  In  1665  he 
was  appointed  by  the  Earl  of  Southampton  to  the  impor 
tant  living  of  S.  Andrew's,  Holborn.  In  1670  he  was 
made  Canon,  and  in  1678  Dean,  of  S.  Paul's ;  in  1689, 
Bishop  of  Worcester,  in  which  see  he  died.  The  precocity 
of  Stillingfleet's  genius  was  the  wonder  of  his  contem 
poraries.  According  to  Pepys  he  was  recommended  for  S. 
Andrew's  by  '  the  Bishops  of  Canterbury  [sic],  London,  and 
another  because  they  believed  him  to  be  the  ablest  young 
man  to  preach  the  Gospel  since  the  Apostles.'  Pepys 
himself  was  much  impressed  with  '  the  great  Stillingfleet,' 
'  the  famous  young  Stillingfleet.' 2  When  Stillingfleet 

1  History  of  England,  i.  311.  2  See  Diary  for  April  1665. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  75 

attended  Bishop  Sanderson's  Visitation  in  1662,  the  bishop 
could  hardly  believe  that  the  young  man  before  him  was 
really  the  famous  Stillingfleet  whom  he  knew  only  by  his 
works.  And  he  was  not  one  of  those  precocious  geniuses 
whose  later  performances  disappoint  their  early  promise. 
He  sustained  his  reputation  well  to  the  end.  Burnet 
described  him  in  1688  as  '  the  learnedest  man  of  the  age 
in  all  respects.' l  One  of  the  reasons  given  why  he  was  not 
advanced  to  the  primacy  after  the  death  of  Tillotson  wras 
'  because  his  great  abilities  had  raised  some  envy  of  him.' 2 
As  a  controversial  writer  against  Eomanists,  Nonconfor 
mists,  and  Socinians,  Stillingfleet  was  regarded  by  church 
men  as  their  strongest  champion;  and  it  is  a  striking 
testimony  to  his  high  character  that  among  all  the  oppo 
nents  whom  his  controversial  works  raised  against  him, 
not  one  hinted  a  doubt  of  his  piety  and  purity  of  motive. 

Posterity  has  perhaps  hardly  endorsed  the  extraordinary 
reputation  for  mental  power  which  Stillingfleet  unques 
tionably  had  among  his  contemporaries.  Perhaps  one 
reason  may  be  that  circumstances  have  brought  into  the 
greatest  prominence  the  two  works,  (oddly  enough,  the 
first  and  the  last  he  ever  wrote,)  in  which  he  appears  at 
the  least  advantage.  The  '  Irenicon  '  was  written  when  he 
was  a  mere  boy ;  and  it  is  obviously  unjust  to  tie  a  man 
down  all  his  life  to  the  opinions  he  expressed  at  two-and- 
twenty.  Most  men's  effusions  at  that  early  age  have  died 
still-born  ;  and  Stillingfleet  has  to  pay  the  penalty  for 
being  too  precocious,  by  laying  himself  open  to  the  charge 
of  inconsistency.3  The  '  Irenicon  '  has  acquired  adventitious 
celebrity  owing  to  the  effect  which  it  produced  upon  the 
mind  of  John  Wesley ;  and  churchmen  owe  a  grudge  to  the 

1  See  the  letter  of  Dr.  Burnet-  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  in  the  Hon.  H. 
Sidney's  Diary,  &c. 

2  White  Rennet's  History  of  England,  iii.  682. 

3  Howe  unquestionably  made  a  point  when  he  said  '  the  rector  of  Sutton 
was  a  very  different  person  from  the  Dean  of  S.  Paul's ;  '  but  it  should  be 
added  that  the  rector  was  at  the  time  too  young  to  be  even  a  curate. 


76          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

juvenile  author  for  having  helped  to  bring  about  the  greatest 
secession  from  the  Church  that  has  ever  occurred.  The 
last  work  in  which  Stillingfleet  employed  his  pen  was 
against  John  Locke ;  and  in  this  again  the  great  prelate 
does  not  appear  at  his  best.  But  to  appreciate  Stillingfleet's 
immense  reputation  among  his  contemporaries,  we  must 
not  look  at  these  works,  nor  yet  at  his  chefs-d'oeuvre,  the 
.'  Origines  Sacrse,'  and  '  Origines  Britannicae,'  which  were 
and  are  more  admired  than  read  by  any  but  specialists. 
We  must  look  at  his  letters,  his  addresses  to  his  clergy,  and 
his  sermons.  He  had  a  lawyer-like  mind,  and  a  good 
knowledge  of  law,  which  served  him  in  good  stead  at  a 
time  when  such  legal  knowledge  was  of  the  utmost  service 
to  a  clergyman.  He  also  expressed  himself  in  a  clear, 
nervous  style,  and  was  altogether  a  formidable  adversary  to 
the  enemies  of  the  Church  and  a  tower  of  strength  to  her 
friends. 

For  plain,  homely  piety,  and  practical  usefulness  in  his 
generation,  no  name  stands  higher  on  the  roll  of  English 
churchmen  than  that  of  William  Beveridge  (1638-1707). 
He  was  born  at  Barrow  in  Leicestershire,  and  was  educated, 
like  Stillingfleet,  at  S.  John's  College,  Cambridge.  He  was 
like  Stillingfleet,  too,  in  shewing  extraordinary  precocity. 
At  the  early  age  of  twenty  he  published  a  learned  treatise 
on  the  Oriental  tongues,  which  is  said  to  have  been  held  in 
great  esteem.  And  he  was  only  twenty-three  when  he  pub 
lished  the  work  by  which  he  is  now  perhaps  best  known,  his 
'Private  Thoughts  on  Eeligion.'  In  1661  Sheldon  gave 
him  the  living  of  Ealing ;  and  in  1662  he  was  appointed 
by  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  London  to  the  living 
of  S.  Peter's,  Cornhill.  This  was  the  scene  of  his  suc 
cessful  labours  for  many  years.  He  was  a  model  parish 
priest,  and  was  called  '  the  great  reviver  and  restorer  of 
primitive  piety.'  His  influence  over  young  men,  who 
abounded  in  that  busy  centre  of  trade,  was  very  great. 
They  thronged  to  his  weekly  Communion  and  formed 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  77 

religious  societies  under  his  direction.  Denis  Granville 
(who  had  been  ordained  at  the  same  time  with  him  by  the 
great  Bishop  Sanderson)  '  laboured  to  imitate  the  pietie  and 
indefatigable  diligence  of  the  renowned  Dr.  Beveridge,' l  and 
told  his  friend  Comber,  that  '  the  devout  practice  and  order 
in  his  (Beveridge's)  church  doth  exceedingly  edifie  the 
city,  and  his  congregation  encreases  every  week.' 2  Beve 
ridge  was  a  retiring,  modest  man,  and  '  all  the  preferment  he 
was  ambitious  of  was  to  go  from  his  flock  in  Cornhill  unto 
the  shepherd  and  bishop  of  souls.' 3  But  a  clergyman 
who  was  eminently  successful  in  so  prominent  a  sphere 
could  hardly  be  overlooked.  He  was  made  successively 
Archdeacon  of  Colchester,  Prebendary  of  Canterbury,  and 
finally  Bishop  of  S.  Asaph,  having  refused  to  take  any  see 
vacated  by  a  nonjuror.  In  all  these  spheres  Beveridge 
shewed  the  same  activity  which  had  marked  his  long 
incumbency  of  S.  Peter's,  Cornhill,  and  when  he  was  dying, 
'  one  of  the  chief  of  his  order '  said  of  him,  '  There  goes 
one  of  the  greatest  and  one  of  the  best  men  that  ever 
England  bred/ 4  It  depends  upon  what  we  mean  by 
'  greatest,'  as  to  whether  the  first  epithet  can  be  accepted, 
but  few  will  deny  him  the  title  to  be  one  of  the  best.  His 
voluminous  writings  will  be  noticed  in  a  future  chapter. 

Much  resembling  the  career  of  Beveridge  was  that  of 
Simon  Patrick  (1626-1707).  He  was  born  at  Gainsborough 
and  educated  at  Queen's  College,  Cambridge,  where,  as  we 
have  seen,  he  was  deeply  influenced  by  the  Platonists. 
Traces  of  his  Platonic  training  he  certainly  retained  to  the 
end,  but  busy  parochial  and  episcopal  work  is  not  conducive 
to  the  Platonic  frame  of  mind,  and  these  traces  are  only 
observable  by  those  who  can  read  between  the  lines.  After 
having  been  chaplain  for  a  while  in  the  house  of  Sir  Walter 

1  Remains,  Part  I.,  p.  236.  2  Life  of  Dean  Comber,  p.  179. 

3  Life  and  Errors  of  John  Dunton,  p.  363. 

4  Life   of  Bishop    Beveridge,   prefixed   to   Private    Thoughts   (edition 
1825). 


78          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

St.  John,  an  estimable  gentleman  with  Puritan  leanings,  he 
became  vicar  of  Battersea  in  1658,  and  of  S.  Paul's,  Covent 
Garden,  in  1662.  What  Beveridge  was  at  S.  Peter's,  that 
Patrick  was  at  S.  Paul's,  one  of  the  most  energetic  and 
successful  parish  priests  of  his  day.  In  his  *  Autobiography  ' 
he  says  nothing  about  his  success  ;  that  we  learn  from  other 
sources  ;  but  he  does  tell  us  how  kind  his  parishioners  were 
to  him,  and  how  this  kindness  was  increased  after  he  had 
stayed  to  minister  to  the  many  sufferers  in  his  parish  during 
the  Great  Plague.  Four  services  were  held  every  day  in 
his  church,  and  the  offertories  were  enormous.  In  1669, 
the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  (Fuller)  in  vain  tempted  him  with 
the  offer  of  the  Archdeaconry  of  Huntingdon,  '  which/  he 
says,  *  I  declined,  thinking  myself  unfit.'  Neither  could  he 
be  lured  away  by  the  Lord  Chancellor's  offer  of  '  the  best 
living  in  England,'  S.  Martin's  in  the  Fields.  In  1672  he 
received, '  unsought,'  a  prebend  at  Westminster,  and  in  1679 
the  deanery  of  Peterborough.  Burnet,  who  could  hardly 
have  agreed  with  all  his  opinions,  nevertheless  recommended 
him  to  King  William  as  '  a  man  of  an  eminently  shining 
life,  who  will  be  a  great  ornament  to  the  Episcopal  order,'  1 
and  accordingly  he  was  made  Bishop  of  Chichester  in  1689, 
and  of  Ely  in  1691.  His  long  experience  in  parochial  work 
stood  him  in  good  stead  as  a  bishop ;  he  could  speak  with 
authority  on  what  had  been  done  in  London,  and  encourage 
his  clergy  to  go  and  do  likewise.2  He  was  an  uncompromis 
ing  churchman,  and,  like  many  of  his  day,  was  too  ready  to 
call  in  the  aid  of  the  secular  arm,3  at  least  in  his  earlier  mi 
nisterial  life.  His'  Autobiography  '  is  rather  a  disappointing 

1  Letter  quoted  in  Sidney's  Diary. 

2  See  his  address  to  the  clergy  On  the  Work  of  the  Ministry,  1697,  and 
other  Charges,  &c. 

3  See  his  Friendly  Debate  between  a  Conformist  and  Nonconformist, 
which,  he  tells  us,  he  was  '  provoked  to  write  by  the  insolence  of  many  dis 
senters.'     It  is  said,  however,  that  in  his  old  age  he  regretted  having  written 
this,  and  had  the  candour  publicly  to  acknowledge  his  error.     See  Williams' 
Life  of  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  p.  218,  note. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  79 

book,  inasmuch  as  it  does  not  give  us  so  vivid  a  picture 
either  of  the  man  or  the  times  as  one  hopes  to  find  in  such 
a  work ;  but  it  is  negatively  valuable  as  an  index  of  the 
writer's  character ;  we  must  go  elsewhere,  and  we  do  not  go 
in  vain,  to  find  a  true  estimate  of  his  diligence  and  other 
virtues,  for  he  does  not  utter,  directly  or  indirectly,  a 
word  of  self-praise. 

Our  admiration  of  Bishop  Ken  must  not  prevent  us 
from  doing  justice  to  the  merits  of  his  unwelcome  successor, 
Richard  Kidder  (d.  1703).  His  'Autobiography'  gives  one 
the  impression  of  an  earnest,  worthy  man,  and  everything 
that  we  hear  of  him  from  other  sources  confirms  the 
impression,  while  we  may  be  sure  that  if  there  had  been 
anything  to  be  said  to  the  contrary,  his  unpopularity  in  his 
bishopric  would  have  caused  it  to  be  made  the  most  of. 
But  he  was  clearly  a  '  conformist '  rather  than  a  church 
man  by  conviction.  He  held  the  living  of  Stanground 
during  the  Eebellion,  and  was  ejected  from  it  as  a  non 
conformist  under  the  Bartholomew  Act ;  '  but  his  good 
sense  overcame  his  prejudices,  and  he  finally  adopted  the 
National  Church.'  *  This  is  not  exactly  the  sort  of  stuff 
out  of  which  a  bishop  should  be  made,  least  of  all  a  bishop 
to  succeed  Ken ;  and  one  can  hardly  be  surprised  at  the 
indignation  of  the  latter  at  the  intrusion  of  the  '  Latitu- 
dinarian  traditor '  into  his  beloved  see.  To  do  justice  to 
Kidder,  it  must  be  said  that  he  she\ved  the  most  unfeigned 
reluctance  to  accept  the  bishopric,  and  when,  in  an  evil 
hour  for  his  own  happiness,  he  did  accept  it,  he  strove  his 
very  utmost  to  do  good  in  his  diocese.2  But  his  position 
was  most  unfortunate.  Ken  was  of  course  a  man  to  leave 
his  mark  upon  his  clergy ;  was  it  likely  that  they  would 
welcome  a  bishop  of  the  principles  of  Kidder  ?  His  charges 
are  evidently  the  productions  of  a  man  who  is  thoroughly 

1  Noble's  Biographical  History  of  England,  ii.  101. 

2  '  No  man,'  he  says  plaintively,  '  could  come  into  a  place  with  a  more 
hearty  desire  to  do  good,  than  I  did.' 


8O          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

in  earnest ;  arid  the  anecdote  of  his  boldly  refusing  to  vote 
in  accordance  with  the  expressed  wishes  of  King  William's 
ministry,  shews  that  he  was  no  time-server.1  Eobert 
Nelson  had  so  high  an  opinion  of  his  worth  that  he  pro 
cured  for  him  the  important  living  of  Barnes  ;  and  he  is  said 
to  have  been  most  kind  to  his  ejected  predecessor  at  Bath. 
In  short,  as  in  the  case  of  Tillotson,  one  cannot  help  feeling 
pity  for  a  good  man  forced  into  an  unsuitable  post,  and 
that  pity  is  heightened  by  his  tragical  end.  He  was  slain 
with  his  wife,  in  bed,  by  the  fall  of  a  stack  of  chimneys  in 
the  Great  Storm  of  1703. 

It  was  an  intense  relief  to  Bishop  Ken, — as  perhaps  it 
will  also  be  to  the  reader, — to  turn  from  the  contemplation 
of  poor  Bishop  Kidder  to  the  happy  choice  which  was  made 
in  selecting  the  next  occupant  of  his  see.  The  relations 
between  Thomas  Ken  and  George  Hooper  (1637-1727)  had 
been  peculiarly  close.  They  had  been  chaplains  together 
to  Bishop  Morley;  they  had  been  chaplains  successively 
to  the  Princess  of  Orange  at  the  Hague,  where  both  had 
incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  lady's  husband  by  present 
ing  to  her  too  strong  a  type  of  English  churchmanship ; 
they  had  been  successively  incumbents  of  East  Wood- 
hay.  Ken  therefore  had  had  abundant  opportunities  of 
knowing  Hooper's  worth,  and  was  more  than  willing  to 
resign  his  claims  to  his  beloved  see  in  favour  of  '  the 
excellent  person  whom  all  mankind  except  these  Jacobites 
have  a  high  esteem  of ;  one  most  able  and  willing  to  pre 
serve  the  deposition.' 2  The  good  old  man  was  not  wrong 

J  '  The  Bishop  once  received  a  message  from  the  Minister  of  William  III., 
conveyed  by  a  pert  gentleman,  requiring  him  to  attend  the  House  of  Peers 
to  vote  for  a  measure  the  Court  wished  to  pass.  "  You  must  vote,"  said  the 
messenger.  "  Must  vote  !  "  replied  the  bishop.  "  Yes,  must  vote  ;  consider 
whose  bread  you  eat."  "  I  eat  no  man's  bread  but  poor  Dr.  Ken's,  and  if  he 
will  take  the  oaths  he  shall  have  it  again.  I  did  not  think  of  going  to  the 
Parliament,  but  now  I  shall  undoubtedly  go,  and  vote  contrary  to  your  com 
mands.' — Noble. 

2  Ken  to  the  Bishop  of  Norwich,  March  7, 170|.  See  Bishop  Ken's  Prose 
Works  (ed.  Hawkins,  p.  69). 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  gj 

in   his   estimate.      Hooper's  career   before   he   was  made 
bishop  had  been  a  singularly  promising  one.     He  was  one 
of  the   many  great    churchmen   who  had   been   educated 
under  Dr.  Busby,  who  said  that  'Dr.  Hooper  was  the  best 
scholar,  the  finest  gentleman,  and  would  make  the  com- 
pleatest  bishop  that  ever  was  educated  at  Westminster,'  >— 
an  almost  unrivalled  compliment,  considering  it  came  from 
one   through   whose    hands    the    very    flower    of   English 
churchmen  had  passed.      When  he  was  at  Woodhay    his 
neighbour  Isaac  Milles  « had  for  this  excellent  person  the 
greatest  respect  and  honour,  as  every  one  had  that  ever 
was  acquainted  with  his  rare  endowments.     He  frequently 
mentioned  him  as  the  one,  of  all  the  clergymen  whom  he 
had  ever  known,  in  whom  the  three  characters  of  perfect 
gentleman,  thorough  scholar,  and  venerable  divine  met  in 
the  most  complete  concordance.     He  used  to  say  <  that  he 
was  a  public  blessing  to  that  country,  whose  affection  and 
esteem  he  amply  repaid  by  the  invaluable  example  he  set 
them.' 2    From  Woodhay  Hooper  was  appointed  Dean  of 
Canterbury ;  and  after  the  accession  of  Queen  Anne  was 
made  Bishop  of  S.  Asaph,3  and,  a  few  months  later,  of  Bath 
and  Wells.     He  was  a  most  successful  bishop ;  beloved  in 
his  diocese,  and  so  happy  there  that  he  refused,  first  the 
bishopric  of  London,  and  then  the  archbishopric  of  York.4 
He  died  at  Wells  at  the  patriarchal  age  of  ninety,  leaving 
behind  him  a  high  reputation  for  learning  and  sanctity, 
which  his  printed  works  fully  bear  out.5 

The  history  of  the  immortal  seven  who  stood  in  the  gap 
when  King  James  strove  to  force  his  religion  upon  an  un- 

1  See  A  Short  Character  of  Bislwp  Hooper,  from  Mr.  Mist's  Journal  of 
October  1727,  annexed  to  vol.  i.  of  Dr.  Coney's  Sermons. 

2  Life  of  Isaac  Milles,  p.  88. 

( 3  The  Prince  of  Orange  was  so  annoyed  at  his  bold  attempts  to  keep  the 
Princess  firm  to  her  Church  principles,  that  he  said  that  if  he  ever  had  any 
thing  to  do  with  England,  Dr.  Hooper  should  continue  Dr.  Hooper  still. 

4  MS.  Life  of  Hooper,  by  Mrs.  Prowse. 

5  See  the  Works  of  Bishop  Hooper,  2  vols.  8vo.,  reprinted  at  Oxford  in 
looo. 


82          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

willing  country  is  so  familiar,  that  a  few  words  will  suffice 
for  the  five  out  of  the  seven  who  have  not  been  already 
noticed. 

John  Lake  (1628-1690),  like  many  others,  had  fought  in 
the  royal  army  before  he  received  Holy  Orders.     He  was 
conspicuous  for  his  courage  in  the  defence  of  Basing  House 
and  Wallingford  Castle,  and  the  same  courage,  shewn  in  a 
different  sphere,  was  a  conspicuous  feature  in  his  character 
in  after-life.     Having  been  episcopally  ordained  during  the 
Commonwealth,  he  became  vicar  of  Leeds  at  the  Eestoration, 
and  was  shortly  after  removed  by  Sheldon  to  the  rectory  of 
S.  Botolph's,  Bishopsgate.      He  was  next  appointed  to  a 
canonry  at  York,  and       characteristic  anecdote  is  told  of 
his  courage  while  residentiary  there.     An  evil  custom  pre 
vailed  of  lounging  about  the  nave  of  the  Minster  while 
divine  service  was  being  performed  in  the  choir.    One  Shrove 
Tuesday  the  bold  Canon  walked  from  his  seat  in  the  choir, 
pulled  off  the  hats  of  the  people  who  were  walking  and 
talking  in  the  nave,  and,  in  spite  of  alarming  symptoms  of 
a  riot,  insisted  upon  their  either  coming  to  worship  God, 
or  leaving  the  church.     He  was  made  successively  Bishop 
of  Man,  of  Bristol,  and  of  Chichester.     In  the  latter  place  it 
is  said  that  he  was  so  popular  with  the  gentlemen  of  Sussex 
that  '  his  coming  to  them  after  his  release  from  his  trial 
was  like  the  return  from  banishment  of  S.  Athanasius  or 
S.  Chrysostom.' l     At  Chichester  he  established  a  weekly 
Communion,  revived  the  good  old  custom  of  preaching  in  the 
nave,  and  won  over  many  dissenters  to  the  Church.    Though 
he  boldly  resisted  King  James's  illegal  acts,  he  never  doubted 
to  whom  his  allegiance  was  due ;  in  the  exciting  autumn 
of  1688  he  bravely  went  about  his  diocese,  exhorting  his 
clergy  to  obey  God  and  the  king,  and  when  the  oaths  to 
King  William  were  required  he  at  once  threw  up  his  pre 
ferment,  '  considering  that  the  day  of  death  and  of  judgment 

1  See   Prebendary   Stephens'    Diocesan  History  of  S  els  ey— Chichester 
(S.P.C.K.),  p.  237. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  83 

were  as  certain  as  August  1  and  February  1.' l  He  died 
the  next  year,  making  just  before  his  death  a  remarkable 
'  profession,'  so  outspoken  and  so  earnest  that  we  cannot 
wonder  at  its  contributing  much  to  settle  wavering  non- 
jurors.2 

Francis  Turner  (1636-1700)  was  the  friend  and  contem 
porary  of  Ken  at  Winchester ;  he  succeeded  Bishop  Gunning 
at  Ely  in  1685,  and  fully  maintained  the  high  standard  of 
efficiency  in  the  diocese  which  had  been  bequeathed  to  him 
by  his  vigorous  predecessor.  His  Letter  to  the  Clergy  in 
1686  gives  one  the  idea  of  a  man  whose  whole  soul  is  in 
his  spiritual  work,  a  man  of  deeply  earnest  piety,  and  of 
ripe  experience  in  clerical  duties ;  and  such,  if  we  may 
trust  Lady  Eachel  Eussell,  was  the  opinion  generally  held 
of  him.3  It  is  therefore  a  sad  pity  that  the  troubled  cir 
cumstances  of  the  times  should  have  diverted  him  from 
spiritual  to  political  affairs.  It  is  quite  beside  the  purpose 
of  the  present  work  to  discuss  his  supposed  share  in  the 
Fenwick  plot,  but  whatever  we  may  think  of  his  conduct 
after  the  Ee volution,  justice  should  be  done  to  his  previous 
merits  as  a  clergyman  and  a  prelate,  and  sympathy  must 
be  felt  with  a  man  who  voluntarily  left  the  affluence  of 
Ely  for  the  life  of  destitution  in  which  he  died.  Thomas 
White  (1630-1698),  was  a  popular  preacher  while  rector  at 
All  Hallows'  Barking ;  he  was  afterwards  domestic  chaplain 
to  the  Princess  Anne,  whose  Church  principles  he  had  no 
small  share  in  forming.  He  was  made  Bishop  of  Peter 
borough  in  1685,  and  then  set  himself  to  remedy  the  abuse 
of  pluralities.  William  Lloyd  (b.  1627),  Bishop  of  S.  Asaph, 
and  afterwards  of  Worcester,  had  a  high  reputation  for  piety 

1  See  A  Defence  of  the  Profession  of  Bishop  Lake  on  his  Death-bed,  &c., 
February  1690. 

2  See  Defence  &c.  ui  supra,  and  Rapin's  History  of  England,  vol.  xii. 
274,  note. 

3  She  writes  to  Dr.  Fitzwilliam,  '  Lord  Bedford  expresses  himself  hugely 
obliged  to  the  Bishop  of  Ely  [Turner],  your  friend,  to  whom  you  justly  give 
the  title  of  good,  if  the  character  he  has  very  generally,  belong  to  him.' 
(Letters  of  Lady  B.  Russell,  p.  308.) 

G  2 


84         LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

and  learning ; 1  he  was  a  friend  of  Mr.  Dodwell,  who  was 
wont  to  accompany  him  in  his  episcopal  visitations  ;  but  his 
conduct  to  the  nonjurors  after  the  Revolution  was  not  com 
mendable.2 

The  last  of  the  redoubtable  seven,  Sir  Jonathan  Trelawney 
(1650-1721),  successively  Bishop  of  Bristol,  Exeter,  and 
Winchester,  is  now  known  chiefly  as  the  subject  of  a  verse 
too  familiar  to  need  quoting,  and  as  the  friend  and  patron 
of  Atterbury,  who  has  immortalised  his  name  in  the  preface 
to  his  well-known  sermons.  According  to  Atterbury,  Tre 
lawney  was  an  excellent  bishop ;  but  it  must  in  fairness  be 
added  that  in  some  of  the  letters  in  the  '  Trelawney  Papers  ' 
he  does  not  appear  in  a  very  favourable  light.3 

There  were  several  other  eminent  prelates,  some  of  them 
more  eminent  in  their  way  than  those  already  mentioned, 
who  for  various  reasons  only  require  a  passing  notice  in  a 
work  like  the  present.  There  are  few  names,  for  instance, 
which  stand  higher  in  the  scroll  of  Church  worthies  than 
that  of  George  Bull,  who  was  allowed  to  continue  in  the 
obscurity  of  a  country  living  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
time  with  which  this  sketch  is  concerned,  and  was  only 
promoted  to  the  distant  see  of  S.  David's  in  his  declining 
years.  But  it  will  suffice  to  refer  the  reader  to  Mr.  Nelson's 
biography  of  this  great  man,  which  has  been  republished  in 
our  own  day  in  a  very  cheap  form,  and  is  thus  accessible  to 
all.4  For  the  same  reason  it  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  on  the 
life  of  that  most  estimable  of  men  and  bishops,  and  most 
moderate  of  nonjurors,  Robert  Frampton,  Bishop  of  Glou 
cester,  whose  life  by  a  contemporary  has  lately  been  given 
to  the  world.5  Again,  during  the  later  part  of  our  period 

1  See  Granger's  Biographical  History  of  England,  vol.  iii.  p.  288,  and 
Lord  Macaulay's  History  of  England,  vol.  i.  p.  560. 

2  See  Brokesby's  Life  of  Dodwell,  p.  39. 

3  The  Trelawney  Papers  were  edited  by  W.  D.  Cooper  for  the  Camden 
Society  in  1853.     See  vol.  ii.  of  the  Camden  Miscellany. 

4  Nelson's  Life  of  Bull,  price  3s.  6^.,  published  by  J.  H.  Parker,  Oxford, 
1845. 

5  Price  2s.,  by  the  Kev.  T.  S.  Evans. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  85 

no  man  took  a  more  conspicuous  part  in  Church  questions 
than  Francis  Atterbury,  Bishop  of  Eochester,  who  did  very 
great  service  to  the  Church  in  a  direction  where  it  was 
much  needed,  by  vindicating  her  independence  as  a  spiritual 
power ;  but  he  can  only  be  noticed  in  passing,  partly  because 
he  will  come  before  us  again  as  a  preacher,  and  partly 
because  he  was  too  much  mixed  up  with  politics  to  come 
within  the  proper  sphere  of  this  chapter.1  And  there  is 
George  Smalridge,  Atterbury's  successor  in  one  preferment 
after  another,  the  '  Favonius  '  of  the  '  Tatler,' 2  the  friend  of 
Bishop  Bull,  and  '  the  great  favourite,'  says  Bishop  Bull's 
biographer,  'of  all  learned  and  good  men  throughout  the 
realm ; ' 3  but  the  period  of  Smalridge's  greatest  fame  was 
the  Georgian  era.  Another  friend  and  patron  of  Bull 
was  Bishop,  or  to  give  him  his  latest  title  Archbishop, 
Nicolson,  who  is  also  praised  highly  by  Nelson.4  Eegarded 
on  his  merits,  both  moral  and  intellectual,  there  is  not  one 
single  prelate  who  more  deserves  an  extended  notice  than 
Bishop  Cumberland,  the  most  Platonic  of  those  who  were 
not  actually  identified  with  the  Cambridge  Platonists,  who 
combined  with  the  rarest  intellectual  gifts,  which  he  used 
diligently  for  the  enrichment  of  the  worlds  of  science  and 
theology,  the  utmost  modesty  and  unselfishness,  and  also  the 
utmost  energy  in  the  practical  work  of  his  calling.  But  he 
was  too  much  '  sui  generis  '  to  be  noticed  at  length  as  a 
typical  specimen  of  his  order.  Bishop  White  Kennet's  is  a 
name  which  ought  not,  in  common  gratitude,  to  be  entirely 
omitted  in  a  work  like  the  present,  for  he  is  by  far  the 
most  voluminous  of  all  contemporary  writers  respecting 
the  period  with  which  we  are  dealing ;  Bishop  Stratford  of 
Chester,  too,  should  be  mentioned  as  one  who  in  a  quiet, 

1  Another  reason  why  I  have  not  dwelt  longer  on  the  lives  of  Atterbury 
and  Bull  is  because  the  lives  of  both  these  great  men  have  been  written  by 
me  for  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 

2  Nos.  72  and  114.  >  Life  Of  BuUf  p<  224. 

4  Ibid.  p.  135.     See  also  Archbishop  Nicolson's  Correspondence,  pub 
lished  1809,  passim. 


86          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

unpretending  way,  did  much  good  in  his  diocese,1  and  whose 
name  is  little  known  for  this  very  reason,  because  he  was 
content  to  stay  at  home  and  attend  to  his  proper  work, 
mixing  very  little  in  the  general  life  of  the  Church  outside. 
Bishop  Wake,  again,  was  regarded  by  his  contemporaries  in 
his  early  ministerial  life  as  a  youthful  prodigy  of  learning 
and  piety,2  and  in  his  later  advancement  (which  did  not 
reach  its  climax  until  a  later  period  than  this  work  embraces) 
justified  the  high  expectations  he  had  raised.3  And  Bishop 
Fowler,  Frampton's  successor  at  Gloucester,  deserves  men 
tion,  who  had  the  honour  of  being  the  first  to  declare  his 
refusal  to  read  King  James's  illegal  declaration  ;  and  Bishop 
Offspring  Blackall  of  Exeter,  of  whom  a  brother  prelate 
says  that  *  he  never  met  with  a  more  perfect  pattern 
of  a  true  Christian  life  in  all  its  parts,'  and  the  utterer  of 
these  words  himself,  Sir  W.  Dawes,  Archbishop  of  York, 
who  will  come  before  us  again  as  a  preacher ;  and  the 
saintly  Thomas  Wilson,  Bishop  of  Sodor  and  Man,  whose 
episcopate  extended  so  far  into  the  Georgian  era4  that 
it  is  difficult  to  realise  that  he  was  actually  bishop  during 
the  whole  of  Queen  Anne's  reign  and  a  great  portion  of  her 
predecessor's ;  and  Bishop  Lloyd  of  Norwich,  '  in  whose 
wisdom  and  integrity  Sancroft  placed  the  greatest  con 
fidence,'  and  *  in  whom,'  writes  one  who  knew  the  circum- 

1  He  was  a  zealous  supporter  of  the  Societies  for  the  Keformation  of 
Manners  in  Cheshire  (see  Churton's  Life  of  Bishop  Pearson,  prefixed  to 
Pearson's  Minor  Theological  Works,  p.  xcv.),  and  contributed  largely  both 
with  his  purse  and  personal  efforts  towards  the  repairing  of  Chester  Cathe 
dral.     (Archbishop  Nicolson's  Correspondence,  pp.  175-6.) 

2  Burnet  calls  him  '  the  wonderfullest  young  man  in  the  world,  and 
the  most  popular  divine  now  in  England  '  (Letter  to  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
1688)  ;  and  Evelyn  (Diary,  i.  638),  speaks  of   '  dining  at  Dr.  Tenison's  with 
Bishop  Ken,  and  that  young,  most  learned,  pious  and  excellent  preacher, 
Mr.  Wake.' 

3  Canon  Perry  calls  him  '  a  most  able  and  excellent  prelate,  a  good 
scholar  and  divine,  and  a  more  distinct  and  decided  churchman   than  his 
predecessor,'    i.e.,    Dr.    Tenison,    whom    he    succeeded    as   Archbishop    of 
Canterbury.     (History  of  Church  of  England,  iii.  278.) 

4  Forty-one  years. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  87 

stances  well,  '  the  diocese  was  deprived  (when  he  became  a 
nonjuror)  of  a  very  able  and  worthy  pastor,  an  excellent 
preacher,  a  man  of  great  integrity  and  piety,  who  thoroughly 
understood  all  the  parts  and  duties  of  his  function,  and 
had  a  mind  fully  bent  to  put  them  all  in  execution  for  the 
honour  of  God  and  good  of  the  Church  on  all  occasions  ; ' l 
and  Bishop  Thomas  of  Worcester,  whom  Dr.  Hickes,  the 
dean,  terms  *  that  excellent  bishop  worthy  of  everlasting 
memory.' 2  And  least  of  all  ought  we  to  forget  his  successor 
Bishop  Hough,  whose  firmness  did  so  much  to  save  the 
Church  of  England  at  a  most  perilous  crisis ; 3  and  whose 
extreme  gentleness  and  amiability  in  later  years  won  the 
admiration  of  very  different  types  of  men.4  But  if  all 
these  were  noticed  at  length  this  work  would  swell  to  the 
dimensions  of  a  biographical  dictionary.  We  must  pass  on 
to  notice  some  of  the  many  worthy  clergymen  who  never 
attained  the  mitre. 

Next  to  bishops  come  deans;  and  among  those  who 
attained  to  the  latter  dignity  one  of  the  best  known  is 
Humphrey  Prideaux  (1648-1724).  He  was  one  of  the 
many  eminent  men  educated  under  Busby  at  Westminster 
and  Fell  at  Christ  Church.  His  life  was  mainly  spent  in 
country  cures, — Bladon,  Saham,  and  Trowse,  until  his 
appointment  to  the  deanery  of  Norwich  in  1702.  He 

1  Life  of  Dr.  Prideaux,  Dean  of  Norwich,  published  1748,  p.  73. 

2  Preface  to  the  Collection  of  Dean  Hickes'  Letters,  vol.  i. 

3  When  he   successfully  resisted   King   James's    attempt   to   thrust   a 
Komanist  president  upon  Magdalen  College.    '  I  see,'  he  said,  '  it  is  resolved 
that  the  Papists  must  have  our  college  ;  and  I  think  all  we  have  to  do  is  to 
let  the  world  see  that  they  take  it  from  us,  and  that  we  do  not  give  it  up ;  ' 
and  he  acted  up  to  his  words.     (See  Life  of  Bishop  Hough,  by  J.  Wilmot, 
Esq.,  1812,  p.  30  &c.) 

4  It  was  long  after  our  period  that  Pope,  speaking  of  the 

Trophies  which  deck  the  truly  good  and  brave, 
says, 

Such  as  on  Hough's  unsullied  mitre  shine, 

and  that  Lord  Lyttelton  (his  neighbour  when  he  was  at  Worcester),  in  his 
Persian  Letters,  praised  him  as  worthy  to  convert  a  Mahometan. 


88 


LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 


might  probably  have  risen  higher,  but  he  was  no  preferment- 
hunter.  Both  his  own  writings  and  all  that  we  are  told  of 
him  give  us  the  impression  of  a  plain,  sensible,  clear-headed 
man,  of  solid  rather  than  brilliant  talents,  which  he  de 
voted  with  thorough  earnestness  to  the  interests  of  religion. 
As  a  successful  pioneer  in  the  great  work  of  Foreign 
Missions,1  as  a  would-be  reformer  of  our  Universities  at 
home,  as  a  diligent  pastor,  archdeacon,  and  dean,  and  as  a 
writer  whose  works  are  still  valued,  he  passed  a  life  which 
was  most  useful,  but  would  not  be  very  interesting  to  the 
reader  if  described  in  detail.2 

It  will  be  more  lively  if  not  more  edifying  to  pass  on  to 
Dean  Dennis  Granville,  who  was  a  sort  of  clerical  Pepys,  his 
*  Eemains  '  giving  us  almost  as  racy  and  naive  an  account 
of  ecclesiastical  as  the  immortal  '  Diary  '  does  of  civil  life. 
Granville  began  his  clerical  career  rather  too  prosperously. 
As  a  son-in-law  of  Bishop  Cosin,  and  a  son  of  the  Earl  of 
Bath,  he  was  loaded  with  preferments.  In  the  very  year 
after  his  ordination  he  received  a  stall  in  Durham  and 
the  archdeaconry  of  Durham  with  the  rich  living  of  Easing- 
ton  annexed,  and  six  years  later  he  was  promoted  to  a 
golden  stall  and  the  rich  living  of  Sedgfield.  The  conse 
quence  was,  '  Jeshurun  waxed  fat  and  kicked.'  The  rich 
young  pluralist,  instead  of  staying  at  one  at  least  of  his 
cures,  was  constantly  careering  about  at  Oxford  and  in 
London,  to  which  latter  place  he  was  attracted  by  having 
had  the  questionable  advantage  of  being  made  chaplain  to 
Charles  II.  This  of  course  disgusted  so  strict  a  discipli 
narian  as  Bishop  Cosin,  who  complains  of  his  son-in-law's 
non-residence,  and  still  more  of  the  reason  he  gave  for  it, 
which  was  in  truth  the  strangest  ever  given  for  absenteeism, 
'because  his  wife  had  taken  physic.'3  In  1674  the  future 

1  Mr.  Anderson,  in  his  History  of  the  Colonial  Church  (ii.  471,  &c.  &c.), 
does  full  justice  to  his  efforts  in  this  direction. 

2  It  will  be  found  fully  described  in  his  Life,  published  1748. 

8  Correspondence  of  Bishop  Cosin  (Surtees  Society),  Part  II.  p.  262. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  89 

dean  received  a  wholesome  check.  He  was  arrested  for 
debt ;  and  henceforth  his  life  was  a  much  more  edifying 
one.  Indeed,  all  through,  there  were  the  germs  of  better 
things  in  him.  We  must  not  judge  of  his  pluralities  and 
non-residence  by  the  standard  of  the  present  day.  Gran- 
ville  was  really  a  conscientious  man,  but,  *  more  temporum,' 
his  conscience  was  quite  easy  so  long  as  he  took  care  to 
provide  proper  substitutes,  and  he  did  take  care  to  do  this. 
His  instructions  to  his  curates  at  Sedgfield  and  Easingtoii 
are  most  strict  in  the  enforcement  of  duty,  and,  it  may  be 
added,  most  amusing.  The  curates  are  to  carry  out  to  the 
very  letter  all  the  rubrics  of  the  Church,  and  he  bitterly  com 
plains  when  they  will  not  do  so.  He  set  himself  to  establish 
weekly  Communions  in  all  the  Cathedrals  in  the  land,  and 
daily  prayers  in  all  the  considerable  country  parishes  in 
his  archdeaconry.  '  Through  this  work,'  he  writes,  '  will  I 
go,  or  I  will  make  a  filthy  bustle  before  I  dye  among  the 
clergy  of  the  nation,  contemptible  mushrump  and  silly 
ignoramus  as  some  do  make  me.'  And  really  he  seems  to 
have  had  extraordinary  success  in  both  attempts.  He  also 
waged  internecine  war  against  '  Pulpit  Prayers,'  and  was 
considered  generally,  as  he  tells  us,  '  the  most  exact  observer 
of  rubricks  and  stickler  for  conformity.'  His  directions  for 
the  government  of  his  own  household  are  strict  to  the  verge 
of  asceticism,  and  so  are  the  rules  he  lays  down  for  his 
own  personal  conduct.  Hammond  among  the  dead  and 
Beveridge  among  the  living  were  the  two  whom  he  took  for 
his  models  ;  Gunning  was  his  spiritual  father,  and  Barnabas 
Oley  the  object  of  his  utmost  admiration.  The  standard  he 
set  before  him  was  thus  a  high  one,  and  to  judge  by  the 
testimony  of  his  contemporaries,  he  did  not  fall  far  behind 
it.  '  You  had  an  uncle,'  wrote  Lord  Lansdowne  to  Mr. 
Bevill  Granville  on  his  taking  Holy  Orders,  '  whose  memory 
I  shall  ever  revere  ;  make  him  your  example.  Sanctity 
sat  so  easy,  so  unaffected  and  so  graceful  upon  him,  that 
in  him  we  beheld  the  very  beauty  of  holiness.  He  was  as 


9O         LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

cheerful,  as  familiar  and  condescending  in  his  conversation, 
as  he  was  strict,  regular,  and  exemplary  in  his  piety ;  as  well- 
bred  and  accomplished  as  a  courtier,  as  reverend  and  vener 
able  as  an  apostle.'  Sir  G.  Wheler  bears  witness  to  his 
*  pious  and  devout  temper,'  and  B.  Oley,  we  are  told,  always 
spoke  of  him  as  '  that  truly  pious  and  devout  good  man,  Dr. 
Granville.'  It  is  necessary  to  give  prominence  to  such  testi 
mony  as  this  because  there  is  a  slightly  ludicrous  flavour 
about  Granville's  '  Eemains  '  which  might  prevent  us  from 
doing  justice  to  the  serious  side  of  his  character.  It  is 
hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  dean  refused  the  oaths  and 
was  much  annoyed  with  his  friends  who  took  them.  It  was 
a  grievous  blow  to  him  when  his  ideal  clergyman,  Beveridge, 
submitted  to  the  new  regime ;  but  his  cup  of  indignation 
was  full  when  another  old  friend,  Thomas  Comber,  took, 
not  only  the  oaths,  but  also  the  deanery  from  which  he 
himself  was  ejected.  With  a  grim  sort  of  humour  he 
addressed  Comber  as  his  steward,  and  directed  him  how  he 
might  safely  send  sums  of  money  due  from  the  '  intruder 
into  the  deanery '  to  himself  the  true  dean.  It  made  no 
difference  to  Granville's  conduct,  that  on  going  to  St.  Ger 
main's  he  was  slighted  by  the  master  for  whom,  as  he  tells 
us,  he  gave  up  '  the  best  deanery,  the  best  archdeaconry, 
and  one  of  the  best  livings  in  England,'  for  it  was  for 
a  principle,  not  for  a  person,  that  he  was  contending. 

His  successor  (if,  pace  Dr.  Granville,  we  may  venture  to 
call  him  so)  is  now  better  known  for  his  writings  than  for 
his  life.  But  Thomas  Comber  (1644-1699)  was  an  excellent 
man,  deservedly  held  in  the  highest  reputation  by  his 
contemporaries,  and  by  none  more  so  than  by  Dean  Gran 
ville  before  that  unpardonable  offence  of  the  deanery.  The 
early  part  of  his  ministerial  life  he  passed  in  a  country  cure 
(East  Newton),  where  he  daily  used  the  common  prayer,  and 
commenced  the  work  on  which  his  fame  chiefly  rests,  '  The 
Companion  to  the  Temple.'  Of  the  four  years  which  he 
spent  as  precentor  at  York,  and  the  ten  during  which  he 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  9 1 

was  Dean  of  Durham,  little  need  be  said,  except  that  he 
quietly  did  his  duty  as  a  sound,  moderate  English  church 
man.  Like  Archbishop  Sharp  he  had  the  happy  knack  of 
gaining  not  only  the  esteem  but  the  friendship  of  men  of 
the  most  widely  different  views,  without  in  the  least  com 
promising  any  of  his  own  principles ;  he  numbered  among 
his  most  intimate  friends,  Tillotson,  Hickes,  Sharp,  Dolben, 
and  Hilkiah  Bedford.1 

Lancelot  Addison  (1642-1703),  Dean  of  Lichfield,  deserves 
a  passing  notice,  if  not  for  his  own  sake,  at  least  for  his 
son's,  who  has  left  us  a  graceful  tribute  to  his  merits  as  a 
father ; 2  but  he  will  come  before  us  again  in  connection 
with  the  devotional  works  of  the  period. 

The  name  of  Addison  naturally  suggests  another  and 
still  greater  name,  that  of  Jonathan  Swift  (1667-1742).  It 
would  of  course  be  absurd  to  hold  up  Swift  as  a  model  of 
Christian  piety,  but  it  is  equally  absurd  to  represent  him 
as  a  hypocrite  without  virtue  or  religion.  That  he  really 
believed,  and,  in  his  own  queer  way,  strove  to  practise  the 
religion  he  preached,  becomes  the  more  apparent  the  more 
his  life  becomes  known  ;  and  in  more  ways  than  one  the 
Church  owes  him  a  debt  of  gratitude  which  she  has  been 
somewhat  slow  to  pay.  No  clergyman  ever  strove  more 
consistently  to  benefit  his  order.  Though  he  plunged  deeply 
into  the  vortex  of  politics,  he  never  forgot  that  he  was 
a  clergyman,  and  he  did  more,  perhaps,  than  any  man  of 
his  time  to  raise  the  social  position  and  improve  the  strait 
ened  circumstances  of  his  less  distinguished  brethren,  and 
the  great  effort  to  provide  for  the  spiritual  wants  of  London 
in  Queen  Anne's  time  was  largely  due  to  his  powerful 
pen. 

Another  dean  to  whose  merits  scant  justice  has  been 
done,  while  his  weak  points  have  been  ruthlessly  exposed, 

1  See  the  Memoirs  of  Dean  Comber,  by  his  great-grandson. 

2  See  The  Tatter,  No.  235,  said  by  some  to  have  been  written  by  Steele, 
but  more  probably  by  Addison. 


92          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

is  George  Hickes  (1642-1715).  He  may  have  been  betrayed 
into  intemperate  language1  under  grievous  provocation, 
and  he  may  have  contended  intemperately  for  politico- 
ecclesiastical  doctrines  which  at  one  time  even  Tillotson 
and  Burnet  held  as  well  as  himself;  but  there  are  few  men 
in  whose  writings  can  be  found  a  more  full  and  lucid  ex 
planation  of  the  position  of  the  Church  of  England  in  re 
lation  both  to  the  Eomanists  and  the  Nonconformists ;  and 
for  his  principles  he  was  ready  to  sacrifice  everything.  His 
many  firm  friendships  show  that  he  was  not  only  a  loveable 
man,  but  also  no  mere  bigot.  For  not  only  did  he  maintain 
the  closest  intimacy  with  the  saintly  Kettlewell  and  Eobert 
Nelson — in  itself  a  strong  presumption  in  favour  of  his 
piety— but  he  did  not  break  off  his  friendship  with  Dean 
Comber  after  the  latter  took  the  oaths  ; 2  he  was  on  terms 
of  visiting  with  Ralph  Thoresby,  and  lived  with  White 
Kennet  at  Amersden  '  as  intimate  friend,'  after  the  two 
had  taken  violently  opposite  sides  at  the  Revolution  settle 
ment,3  and  the  fact  of  his  old  pupil,  Sir  George  Wheler, 
taking  preferment  in  the  Established  Church  did  not  in  the 
least  interfere  with  the  mutual  respect  and  affection  they 
entertained  for  one  another.3  His  immense  learning,  as 
displayed  both  in  his  works  on  the  Northern  languages  and 
in  all  his  controversial  treatises,  does  not  come  within  our 
scope,  but  the  points  mentioned  above  are  worth  noting  as 
a  proof  that  even  the  extremest  advocacy  of  nonjuring  prin 
ciples  did  not  cut  off  the  holder  from  sympathy  with  those  who, 
after  all,  belonged  to  the  same  branch  of  the  Church  Catholic, 
though  they  were  divided  by  accidental  circumstances. 

John  Kettlewell  (1653-1695)  has  been  mentioned  as  a 
most  intimate  friend  of  Hickes.  A  short  sketch  of  his 
character  will  shew  how  much  this  speaks  for  the  merits  of 

1  See  Life  of  Comber,  p.  360. 

2  See  Short  Life  of  Bishop  W.  Kennet,  published  1730,  and  Granger's  Bio 
graphical  History  of  England,  p.  120. 

3  See  the  Memoirs  of  Sir  George  Wheler,  Prebendary  of  Durham,  passim. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD 


93 


the  latter.  What  Ken  was  among  bishops,  Kettlewell  was 
among  priests,  the  saintliest  and  most  fascinating  character 
which  a  Church  and  age  rich  in  such  characters  produced. 
Nature  had  moulded  him  in  a  form  which  was  eminently 
susceptible  of  Christian  impressions.  '  He  was  from  a  child 
of  a  most  devout  temper,  and  would  frequently  retire  to 
pray  by  himself  and  would  try  to  make  his  schoolfellows 
pray.  He  was  blessed  with  a  happy  constitution,  and  the 
grace  of  God  begat  in  him  betimes  a  hatred  of  sin  and  the 
very  appearance  of  evil.' l  He  went  to  Oxford,  taking  his 
degree  at  S.  Edmund's  Hall,  and  then  being  elected  fellow 
of  Lincoln  College,  mainly  through  the  influence  of  his 
friend  Hickes,  who  was  a  member  of  that  society.  He  was 
then  appointed  (1682)  vicar  of  Coleshill,  by  the  excellent 
Lord  Digby,  who  first  offered  the  living  to  Mr.  Eawlett  of 
Newcastle ;  but  the  Newcastle  people  persuaded  their  vicar 
not  to  leave  them,  and  then  Lord  Digby  asked  him  to 
recommend  'some  one  like  himself;  one  who  had  at  heart 
the  salvation  of  souls,  and  to  whom  with  safety  to  his  own, 
he  might  commit  that  cure.' 2  Eawlett  recommended  Kettle- 
well,  with  the  happiest  results.  For  seven  years  Kettle- 
well  lived  at  Coleshill,  the  very  model  of  a  country  parson, 
on  the  most  intimate  terms  with  his  patron,  and  endea 
vouring  to  present  to  his  parishioners  the  full  system  of 
the  Church,  and  recommending  it  to  them  by  his  own 

1  Life  of  Kettlewell  (1719)  p.  7.     It  seems  rather  base  to  quote  and  de 
rive  information  from  a  work,  and  then  abuse  it,  but  really  this  Life  is  most 
disappointing.     In  the  first  place  it  is  buried  alive,  being  only  published  (so 
far  as  I  know),  together  with  Kettlewell's  works  in  two  huge  folio  volumes, 
which  is  provoking,  because  Kettlewell  the  man  is  more  interesting  than 
Kettlewell  the  writer  ;  but  in  itself  it  is  not  a  finished  performance.     If  one 
might  venture  to  use  a  homely  adage  on  such  a  subject,  one  would  be  inclined 
to  say  'Too  many  cooks  spoil  the  broth.'    It  was  '  compiled  from  the  collec 
tions  of  Hickes  and  Nelson '  by  Francis  Lee  ;  a  short  sketch  by  any  one  of 
the  three  (they  were  all  competent  men),  would  have  been  more  acceptable. 
What  an  admirable  companion  to  his  monograph  on  Bishop  Bull,  Nelson 
might  have  made ! 

2  A  Brief  Account  of  the  Life  of  Rev.  Mr.  John  Eawlet  (published 
anonymously,  but  known  to  have  been  written  by  Dr.  Bray). 


94         LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

saintly  life.  His  work  was  most  unfortunately  interrupted 
by  the  Kevolution,  for  he  could  not  conscientiously  take  the 
oaths,  and  therefore  lost  his  living.  The  rest  of  his  short 
life  was  spent  in  London,  where  he  helped  the  Church  in  the 
only  way  left  to  him — by  his  pen ;  but  he  was  called  to  his 
rest  before  he  quite  reached  his  prime.  To  praise  or  quote 
praise  of  Kettlewell  would  be  indeed  '  to  paint  the  lily,  gild 
refined  gold.'  '  Such,'  says  his  friend  Nelson,  '  was  the  lustre 
of  his  eminent  sanctity  that  all  parties  paid  a  due  venera 
tion  to  his  character  ; ' l  and  the  remark  appears  to  have  been 
literally  true.  From  the  hagiologist's  point  of  view  he  holds 
the  very  highest  place  of  all  among  the  clergy  of  his  day.2 

Kettlewell's  life  was  so  calm  and  uniform,  that  it  will 
be  perhaps  a  relief  to  turn,  by  way  of  contrast,  to  a  more 
chequered  career.  Let  us  take  that  of  Samuel  Wesley 
(1662-1735),  a  remarkable  man  himself,  and  the  father  of 
a  still  more  remarkable  family.  He  began  life  as  a  dissenter, 
but  no  one  can  accuse  him  of  conforming  for  the  sake  of 
gain,  for  his  conformity  alienated  all  his  relations  from 
him  and  rendered  him  absolutely  penniless.  He  managed, 
however,  to  struggle  through  his  Oxford  career  as  a  '  poor 
scholar '  or  servitor  at  Exeter  College,  and,  having  received 
Holy  Orders,  took  a  London  curacy  of  28L  a  year.  He  was 
next  made  chaplain  to  the  Marquis  of  Normanby,  and  in 
1691 3  rector  of  South  Ormsby  in  Lincolnshire.  Thence  he 
was  transferred,  through  the  influence  of  Queen  Mary,  to 
the  rectory  of  Epworth,  and  here  he  spent  the  remainder 
of  his  life,  nearly  forty  years.  Owing  to  the  extraordinary 
celebrity  of  his  sons,  we  are  admitted  to  a  close  insight 
into  this  clerical  household,  and  the  first  thing  that  strikes 

1  See  Nelson's  preface  to  Kettlewell's  Five  Discourses  on  so  many  very 
important  points  of  Practical  Religion. 

*  Higher,  I  think,  even  than  Ken.  There  is  a  little  asperity  (not  unpro 
voked)  in  some  of  Ken's  later  letters,  and  he  did  not  do  justice  to  the  merits 
of  his  unfortunate  successor,  Bishop  Kidder.  Not  a  trace  of  such  a  spirit 
can  be  found  either  in  the  writings  or  the  life  of  Kettlewell. 

8  Not  1693,  as  Dr.  Adam  Clarke  states. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  95 

us  is  the  ardent  spirit  of  piety  which  evidently  pervaded  it. 
Samuel  Wesley's  sons  gratefully  own  the  spiritual  ad 
vantages  they  derived  from  their  training  in  the  Lincoln 
shire  rectory.  '  Such  a  family,'  writes  Dr.  Adam  Clarke, 
'  I  have  never  heard  of,  read  of,  or  known.'  l  Another 
point  is  the  intellectual  activity  which  was  a  characteristic 
of  the  whole  household.  Both  father  and  mother  and  all 
the  numerous  family  at  Epworth  were  most  highly  cultured. 
And  a  third  point,  alas  !  is  the  pecuniary  difficulties  in 
which  the  household  was  perpetually  involved.  These  were 
perhaps  inevitable  when  the  rector  had  no  private  means, 
not  a  large  preferment,  but  a  very  large  family ;  whether 
or  not  they  were  further  increased  by  his  propensity  to 
rush  into  print  may  be  doubtful.  He  began  to  publish  at 
eighteen,  and  was  henceforth  incessantly  enriching  the 
world  with  some  fresh  lucubration  in  prose  or  verse.  His 
poverty  did  not  cripple  his  energy.  We  hear  of  him 
frequently  in  London,  now  attending  the  meetings  of  Con 
vocation  as  proctor  of  the  diocese,  now  preaching  most 
energetically  in  behalf  of  the  Societies  for  the  Eeformation 
of  Manners,  now  (according  to  his  son  John)  composing 
the  famous  speech  which  Dr.  Sacheverell  delivered  at  his 
trial  before  the  House  of  Lords.  Poverty  was  not  his  only 
trouble.  He  was  too  conscientious  to  wink  at  vice  in  his 
parishioners,  whatever  their  rank  might  be.  At  Ormsby 
he  came  into  collision  with  the  great  man  at  the  Hall,2  who 
was  living  in  open  sin.  At  Epworth  his  troubles  thickened; 
his  parishioners  appear  to  have  been  a  more  turbulent  set 
than  those  among  whom  his  successor  is  now  ministering  ; 
they  were  strongly  suspected  of  having  set  fire  to  his  house, 
and  when  he  voted  according  to  his  conscience  at  a  county 

1  Memoirs  of  the  Wesley  Family  ;  a  dull  but  useful  book.    A  good  account 
of  Wesley  at  Epworth  will  also  be  found  in  The  Mother  of  the  Wesleys,  by 
the  Rev.  John  Kirk,  4th  edition,  1866,  and  in  Tyerman's  Life  of  Samuel 
Wesley. 

2  That   is,  not,  as  has  been   erroneously  stated,  the  Marquis  of   Nor- 
manby,  but  the  Earl  of  Castleton,  the  then  tenant. 


96         LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

election,  they  all  but  made  the  place  too  hot  to  hold  him.1 
They  did  succeed  in  getting  him  arrested  for  debt  and  sent 
to  Lincoln  gaol.  In  all  his  troubles  he  had  one  firm  friend 
who  helped  him  continually  with  counsel  and  money,  and 
the  mere  fact  that  Archbishop  Sharp,  who  never  counte 
nanced  the  unworthy,  was  faithful  to  him  from  first  to  last, 
is  a  proof,  if  proof  were  needed,  of  Wesley's  worth.  He  was 
an  excellent  parish  priest,  and  his  efforts  gradually  told  upon 
the  religious  and  moral  state  of  his  parish.  His  son  Samuel 
took  him  as  the  model  for  the  portrait  of  his 

Parish  priest,  not  of  the  pilgrim  kind, 
But  fixed  and  faithful  to  the  post  assigned, 
Through  various  scenes  with  equal  virtue  trod, 
True  to  his  oath,  his  order,  and  his   God. 

His  literary  performances,  good,  bad,  and  indifferent  (for 
he  has  left  us  specimens  of  all  three),  do  not  come  within 
the  scope  of  this  chapter. 

Neither  the  piety,  nor  the  intellectuality,  nor  the  poverty 
of  Epworth  rectory  was  exceptional.  Another  instance  of 
all  these  will  be  found  in  the  life  of  Joseph  Bingham  (1668- 
1723).  Like  Wesley  he  was  a  man  of  great  literary  activity, 
but,  unlike  Wesley,  he  wisely  and  with  eminent  success 
concentrated  his  attention  mainly  on  one  great  department 
of  Christian  literature.2  The  story  of  his  life  is  a  sad  one. 
It  is  sad  to  hear  of  a  good  and  able  man  struggling  with  an 
infirm  and  sickly  constitution,  in  want  of  many  necessary 
books,  which  he  had  no  opportunity  to  see  and  no  ability 
to  purchase,  copying  with  his  own  hand  pages  of  '  Pearson 
on  the  Creed  '  *  to  supply  the  deficiencies  of  a  mutilated  book, 
because  he  could  not  afford  to  spend  a  few  shillings  on  a 

1  His  vote  at  this  election  gave  offence  to  his  eccentric  brother-in-law, 
John  Dunton,  who  complains  that  '  Sam  left  the  Whigs  that  gave  him  his 
bread  to  herd  with  the  high-flyers.'    (Life  and  Errors  of  John  Dunton.}   He 
had  previously  declared  '  I  bid  him  farewell  till  we  meet  in  Heaven,  and 
there  I  hope  we  shall  renew  our  friendship,  for,  human  frailties  excepted,  I 
believe  Sam  Wesley  a  pious  man.' 

2  The  Antiquities  of  the  Christian  Church. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD 


97 


new  copy,'  and  losing  at  one  blow  in  the  South  Sea  Bubble 
all  the  small  and  hard-earned  profits  of  his  literary  work  ; 
saddest  of  all,  perhaps,  to  think  that  the  University  of 
which  he  was  an  ornament  blighted  his  career  at  the  outset 
by  affixing  on  him  a  most  undeserved  stigma  of  heresy  on 
the  subject  of  the  Trinity.  When  he  was  obliged  to  resign 
his  fellowship  at  University  College  in  consequence,  the 
famous  Dr.  Eadcliffe  had  the  honour  of  presenting  him  to 
the  small  living  of  Headbourne  Worthy  without  solicitation. 
Here  he  lived  for  fifteen  years,  when  Sir  J.  Trelawney, 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  conferred  on  him  the  better  living  of 
Havant.  He  deserved  a  better  fate,  for,  besides  being  one 
of  the  first  theological  writers  of  the  day,  he  was  a  man  of 
blameless  life  and  a  good  parish  priest ;  but  the  early  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century  is  not  the  only  time  when  a 
modest,  retiring  man,  with  little  worldly  wisdom,  has  been 
allowed  to  live  and  die  neglected.1 

Passing  from  the  calm  of  a  country  village  to  the  centre 
of  busy  London,  we  find  another  clergyman  in  whom  were 
combined  straitened  circumstances  with  the  very  highest 
reputation  and  worth.  Anthony  Horneck  (1641-1697),  a 
German  by  birth,  was  educated  at  Queen's  College,  Oxford, 
and  was  for  two  years  vicar  of  All  Saints  in  that  city,  where 
he  gave  promise  of  his  subsequent  fame  as  a  preacher  and 
parish  priest.  We  next  find  him  in  the  family  of  Lord 
Torrington,  and  then  incumbent  of  a  country  living  in 
Devonshire.  But  he  did  not  find  his  proper  sphere  of  work 
until  he  was  appointed  in  1671  preacher  at  the  Savoy 
Church.2  For  twenty-six  years  he  retained  this  post,  doing 

1  See  the  Life  of  Joseph  Bingham,  by  Richard  Bingham,  his  lineal  de 
scendant,  prefixed  to  the  first  volume  of  his  works  in  nine  vols. 

-  That  is,  the  chapel  attached  to  the  Savoy  Palace  in  the  Strand.  The 
parishioners  of  S.  Mary-le-Strand,  whose  church  had  been  pulled  down  in 
Edward  VI. 's  reign  to  help  to  build  Somerset  House,  were  attached  to  this 
Savoy  chapel,  and  Dr.  Horneck  regarded  them  as  his  parishioners.  Hence, 
by  an  odd  mistake,  when  S.  Mary's  church  was  rebuilt  it  was  popularly 
called  the  Savoy  Church  (see  Paterson's  Pietas  Londinensis,  Byrom's 
Journal,  &c.),  which  of  course  it  was  not  and  never  had  been. 

H 


98          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

incalculable  good  throughout  the  whole  neighbourhood,  for 
which  he  received  a  very  scanty  pittance,  derived  mainly 
from  the  offerings  of  his  congregation.  His  income  was  still 
further  reduced  at  the  Eevolution,  many  of  his  supporters 
being  offended  because  he  took  the  oaths.  But  he  struggled 
on  manfully,  and  ultimately  received  a  little  addition  to  his 
income  by  being  appointed  Prebendary  of  Westminster,  and 
subsequently  of  Wells.  As  a  hard  worker  Dr.  Horneck  would 
bear  comparison  with  the  most  active  clergyman  of  our  own 
active  day.  His  biographer  '  tells  us  that  *  the  Doctor  had  so 
much  business  he  had  hardly  time  to  eat  his  meat ; '  and  we 
can  well  believe  it,  for  the  demands  upon  his  time  must  have 
been  incessant.  Besides  the  ordinary  duties  of  a  town  clergy 
man,  of  which  he  took  a  high  standard  and  fulfilled  most  as 
siduously,  he  was  one  of  the  originators  and  principal  directors 
of  the  Eeligious  Societies,  was  constantly  resorted  to  in  cases 
of  conscience,  and  was  a  zealous  writer  in  opposition  to 
Eomanism.  He  died  in  harness,  his  end,  no  doubt,  being 
hastened  by  overwork.  His  reputation  was  undoubtedly 
very  high.  Evelyn,2  the  second  Lord  Clarendon,3  Burnet,4 
John  Dunton,6  Noble,6  and  many  others,  bear  witness  to  his 
sanctity  and  energy.  And  yet  he  was  clearly  not  altogether 
a  popular  man.  Wrhen  there  was  some  talk  of  his  being 
removed  to  S.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden,  the  parishioners 
expressed  so  strong  a  repugnance  that  the  appointment 

1  Dr.  Kidder,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells. 

2  '  A  most  pathetic  preacher,  a  person  of  a  saintlike  life.'     (Diary  for 
March  5,  168§.) 

3  '  I  would  be  very  glad  to  have  Dr.  Horneck  here  (in  Ireland).   I  know 
his  piety  and  course  of  life,  &c.'  (Correspondence  of  Henry  Hyde,  Earl  of 
Clarendon,  &c.,  i.  264. 

4  '  A  very  good  and  pious  preacher,  and  a  very  popular  man.'     (Letter 
to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  1688.) 

5  '  A  man  of  that  great  usefulness  that  none  ever  yet  saw  him  without 
reverence,  or  heard  him  without  wonder.     A  long  fixed  star  in  the  firma 
ment  of  the  Church.'     (Life  and  Errors  &c.,  p.  163.) 

6  '  Endeavoured  to  reform  himself  and  his  flock  according  to  the  purest 
and  best  model  of  Christianity.     (Biographical  History  of  England,  i.  102.) 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  99 

could  not  even  be  thought  of.1  He  was  the  only  one  of 
those  recommended  by  Burnet  to  King  William  who  never 
attained  to  any  high  place  in  the  Church ;  and  his  name 
was  connected  more  than  that  of  any  other  man  with  the 
odium  which  most  cruelly  attached  to  the  Religious  Societies. 
Lord  Clarendon's  respect  for  him  only  led  to  his  being  asked 
now  and  then  to  sup  with  his  lordship.  Perhaps,  being  a 
foreigner,  he  did  not  quite  understand  English  ways,  or 
perhaps  he  offended  people  by  what  White  Kennet  calls  his 
zealous  flights  and  raptures.  At  any  rate  there  was  some 
bar  to  his  preferment ;  his  history  leaves  upon  one  the  sad 
impression  of  a  good  man  worked  to  death,  without  having 
received  on  this  side  the  grave,  any  adequate  recognition  of 
his  services. 

The  name  of  Thomas  Bray  (1656-1730)  will  come 
prominently  before  us  in  another  connection,  but  it  would 
be  a  grievous  omission  not  also  to  notice  his  holy,  active, 
and  self-denying  life  in  a  sketch  of  the  clerical  worthies  of 
the  period.  He  was  born  at  Marton  in  Shropshire.  His 
first  clerical  work  was  in  a  curacy  near  Bridgnorth  ;  he  was 
then  chaplain  in  the  family  of  Sir  T.  Price  at  Park  Hall  in 
Warwickshire,  who  gave  him  the  donative  of  Long  Mar  sin. 
His  exemplary  conduct  there  attracted  the  notice  of  a 
neighbour  of  kindred  spirit,  John  Kettlewell,  and  also  of 
Kettlewell's  patron,  Lord  Digby,  who  presented  him  first 
to  the  living  of  Overwhitacre  (endowing  it  with  the  great 
tithes),  and  then  to  that  of  Sheldon.  But  Bray  was  not 
destined  to  live  and  die  in  the  obscurity  of  a  country 
parsonage.  In  1696  he  was  sent  by  the  Bishop  of  London, 
as  his  commissary,  to  Maryland,  '  to  model  that  infant 
church.' 2  And  here  commenced  that  noble  work  in  con 
nection  with  the  Societies,3  to  which  he  devoted  not  only 

1  See  Tillotson's  letter  to  Rachel,  Lady  Russell,  in  her  Life  and  Corre 
spondence. 

2  Public  Spirit  Illustrated  in  the  Life  and  Designs  of  Dr.  Bray  (pub- 
ished  1746).  3  See  infra,  chapter  v. 

K  2 


TOO          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

his  time  and  energy,  but  all  his  little  private  fortune.  In 
1706  he  was  appointed  to  the  living  of  S.  Botolph-without- 
Aldgate,  and  was  as  diligent  and  successful  there  as  he  had 
been  in  his  other  and  better  known  work.1  It  is  pleasing  to 
know  that  the  virtual  founder  of  our  two  oldest  Church 
Societies  left  behind  him  a  name  which  was  respected  by 
all  parties. 

If  the  lives  of  all  the  good  clergy  who  were  no  further 
distinguished  than  by  quietly  doing  their  duty  in  their  own 
little  corner  of  their  Lord's  vineyard  were  even  sketched,  'the 
world  could  not  contain  the  books  that  should  be  written.' 
Even  of  those  who  lived  during  the  short  period  which  this 
work  embraces,  the  list  has  already  swelled  to  a  portentous 
size,  and  it  must  suffice  to  touch  very  cursorily  upon  some  who 
have  not  yet  been  noticed.  A  typical  instance  of  the  good 
country  parson  pure  and  simple,  who  was  neither  a  writer, 
nor  a  dignitary,  nor  in  any  way  connected  with  the  general 
course  of  Church  life,  may  be  found  in  the  interesting 
biography  of  Isaac  Milles  (1638-1720). 2  He  was  a  sort  of 
George  Herbert  without  his  poetry,  and  passed  all  his  clerical 
life  in  country  cures,  being  for  nine  years  curate  at  Barley 
near  Eoyston,  six  years  vicar  of  Chipping  Wy combe,  and 
nearly  forty  years  rector  of  Highclere  near  Newbury.  In 
every  one  of  these  charges  he  worked  with  exemplary  zeal 
and  success,  winning  over  nonconformists  to  the  Church, 
and  gaining  the  respect  of  all  his  parishioners,  rich  and 
poor.  Such  lives  are  not  much  noticed  on  earth,  but  they 
are  not  lived  to  be  noticed  on  earth ;  they  have  their  reward 
where  it  is  sought.  And  we  gather  from  his  biography  that 

'  See  Paterson's  Pietas  Londinensis,  sub  finem,  and  Kalph  Thoresby's 
Diary  for  May  15,  1723  :  '  Walked  to  the  pious  and  charitable  Dr.  Bray's, 
at  Aldgate  ;  was  extremely  pleased  with  his  many  pious,  charitable,  and  useful 
objects  ; '  and  on  May  21,  1723,  'At  Dr.  Bray's  church  the  charity  children 
were  catechised.  Prodigious  pains  so  aged  a  person  takes  ;  he  is  very  mor 
tified  to  the  world  ^  takes  abundant  pains  to  have  a  new  church,  though  he 
would  lose  100Z.  per  annum.' 

2  Life  of  the  Rev.  Isaac  3Iillcs,  once  Rector  of  Highclere.  It  was  repub- 
lished  at  Oxford  in  1812. 


CLERGY    OF     THE    PERIOD  IO1 

Isaac  had  about  him  clerical  neighbours  equally  obscure 
and  equally  exemplary.  Some  of  these  have  been  noticed 
in  the  previous  section. 

Dr.  Marsh,  vicar  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  is  said  to  have 
been  '  a  person   of  great   worth   and   excellency,'  and   so 
famous  a  casuist  that  he  was  resorted  to  as  '  a  common 
oracle  '  by  all  the  neighbourhood.1     Mr.  Cock,  vicar  of  S. 
Oswald's,  Durham,  was  '  unwearied  in  his  labours  as  a  parish 
priest ; '  a  short  life  of  him  was  written  by  Dean  Hickes.2 
Dr.  R.  Lucas,  Prebendary  of  Westminster,  'was  one  on  whose 
character,'  writes  the  editor  of  his  Sermons  (to  be  noticed 
presently),  '  it  is  needless  to  enlarge,  for  the  world  has  done 
him  justice ; ' 3  but  alas  !  the  world  has  a  short  memory  and 
has   quite  forgotten  him.     Mr.  Plaxton,  the  eccentric  but 
worthy  vicar  of  Woodside  near  Leeds,  '  was,'  according  to 
Ralph  Thoresby,4  'very  commendably  serious  and  indus 
trious  in  his  cure  and  brought  his  parish  into  an  excellent 
order  ; '  and,  according  to  the  same  authority,  an  equally 
high  character  belonged  to  two  successive  vicars  of  Leeds, 
the  '  learned  and  pious  Mr.  Milner,'  who  became  a  nonjuror, 
and  '  the  excellent  Mr.  Killingbeck,  a  public  blessing  to  this 
parish,   whose   preaching  was   very  affecting  and   his  life 
answerable   to  his  preaching,    truly  excellent.'5      William 
Burkitt,  who  is  now  known,  where  he  is  known  at  all,  either 
as  a  devotional  writer  or  as  a  man  who  was  before  his  time 
in  the  deep  interest  which  he  took  in  Foreign  Missions,6 
was  also  conspicuous   for  his  blameless  life  and  his  self- 
denying  and  successful  work  as  vicar  of  Dedham  in  Essex.7 
Charles  Leslie  is  known  for  his  powerful  reasoning  on  every 

1  See  Life  of  Ambrose  Barnes,  p.  442. 

2  See  Remains  of  Granville,  Part  II.  p.  169,  and  Low's  Diocesan  History 
of  Durham  (S.P.C.K.). 

3  Sermons  on  Several  Occasions  and  Subjects,  in  three  volumes,  2nd 
edition,  1722. 

4  Diary  for  April  3,  1714.  *  Diary  for  1690. 

6  See  Anderson's  History  of  the  Colonial  Church. 

7  See  the  Life  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  William  Burkitt,  Vicar  and  Lecturer  of 
Dedham  in  Essex,  by  N.  Parkhurst,  1704.     There  is  a  touching  story  of  his 


1O2         LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

controversial  topic,  theological  and  political,  of  the  day,  but 
almost  every  page  of  his  writings  shews  also  the  intense 
earnestness  of  his  Christian  convictions,  and  we  are  not 
surprised  to  learn  from  his  friend  the  second  Earl  of 
Clarendon,  that  he  was  '  a  man  of  incomparable  life,  who 
would  well  do  his  duty  in  whatever  he  undertook.' 1  Further 
information  about  this  very  able  and  good  man  will  be  found 
in  the  welcome  biography  which  has  been  published  since 
the  above  was  written  by  his  relation,  the  Eev.  E.  J.  Leslie. 
Mr.  Smythies,  who  shares  with  Dr.  Horneck  the  chief  credit 
of  originating  the  Keligious  Societies,  and  who  worked  con 
tentedly  and  most  successfully  for  nearly  thirty  years  in 
a  London  curacy,  is  said  (and  we  can  well  believe  it),  to 
have  been  '  a  most  humble  and  hearty  Christian,  of  great 
patience  and  resignation  to  the  will  of  God,  and  a  most 
mortified  man  to  the  world.' 2  Jeremy  Collier,  whose  gallant 
crusade  against  the  most  popular  amusement  of  the  day 
raised  against  him  many  enemies  who  jealously  watched 
his  conduct,  but  could  find  no  flaw  in  it,  was  '  in  the  full 
sense  of  the  word  a  good  man.' 3  John  Johnson,  of  Gran- 
brook,  who  is  now  chiefly  known  as  an  able  exponent  of 
the  sacrificial  character  of  the  Holy  Eucharist,4  was  known 
also  in  his  own  day  as  an  excellent  parish  priest,  equally 
successful  in  a  town  and  a  country  cure.5  The  name  of  John 
Fitzwilliam,  the  worthy  successor  of  Ken  at  Brighstone,6  and 
afterwards  Canon  of  Windsor  and  rector  of  Cottenham,  is  pre- 

death.  'There  were  several  persons  by  his  dying  bed,  who,  having  declared 
that  under  God  he  had  been  the  instrument  of  their  conversion,  put  him 
into  an  extasie  of  joy.' 

1  Letter  from  the  Earl  of  Clarendon  to  the  Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor, 
May  25,  1686,  in  his  Correspondence,  i.  405.  See  also  the  testimony  of 
Leslie's  friend,  Dr.  Hickes,  in  the  prefaces  to  Several  Letters  which  passed 
betiueen  Dr.  G.  Hickes  and  a  Popish  Priest,  &c.,  1705. 

'-'  Life  and  Errors  of  John  Dunton,  p.  369. 

3  Lord  Macaulay's  History  of  England,  ii.  106. 

4  Johnson's  Unbloody  Sacrifice ;  highly  valued  by  Robert  Nelson. 

5  See  the  Life  of  the  Rev.  John  Johnson,  Vicar  of  Cranbrook,  by  the 
Rev.  T.  Brett,  LL.D.,  published  1748. 

6  See  A  Layman's  Life  of  Ken,  pp.  73  and  536. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  103 

served  from  oblivion  in  the  correspondence  of  Eacliel,  Lady 
Eussell,  where  many  letters  between  the  two  may  be  found 
equally  creditable  to  both.  Lady  Eussell,  who  had  known 
him  from  her  childhood  as  the  honoured  chaplain  of  her 
father,  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  consulted  him  in  her  sad 
widowhood  on  all  matters  connected  with  religion,  used  the 
prayers  he  composed  for  her  benefit,  and  described  his  life 
as  a  *  continual  doing  good  to  souls ; '  the  fact  that  the 
Doctor  became  a  nonjuror,  while  the  lady  of  course  supported 
the  Eevolution  settlement,  did  not  in  the  least  affect  the 
confidence  between  the  two.1  Thomas  Baker  was  another 
estimable  nonjuror,  who  succeeded  in  securing  the  good 
word  of  men  who  had  no  sympathy  whatever  with  such 
views.2  And  last  but  not  least,  the  saintly  Nathaniel  Spinkes 
was  a  man  of  whose  piety,  unselfishness,  and  culture  his 
brother  nonjurors  might  well  be  proud,  as  they  obviously 
were  (see  *  Life  '  prefixed  to  his  *  Devotions  ') ;  but  he  will 
come  before  us  again  in  connection  with  the  devotional 
works  of  the  period. 

Space  forbids  us  to  linger  on  names  which  are  connected 
with  the  Church  literature  rather  than  the  Church  life  of 
the  time,  though  there  is  no  reason  to  think  that  their 
lives  were  unworthy  of  their  writings.  Among  such  were 
William  Wotton,  the  great  linguist,  rector  of  Middleton 
Keynes;  William  Wall,  author  of  the  standard  work  on 

1  See  Some  Account  of  the  Life  of  Eacliel  Wriothesley,  Lady  Russell,  by 
the  editor  of  Madame  du  Deffand's  Letters,  3rd  edition,  1820,  p.  45,  &c.  Also 
the  Letters  of  Lady  Rachel  Russell,  3rd  edition,  1792,  passim. 

*  Bishop  Burnet  wrote  to  him  (1714),  '  I  have  so  great  a  regard  both  to 
yourself  and  your  friends  that  I  am  extremely  sorry  the  Church  hath  so 
long  lost  the  service  of  so  worthy  men.'  (Quoted  in  the  Memoirs  of  the 
Life  and  Writings  of  Rev.  T.  Baker,  B.D.,  of  S.  John's  College,  Cam 
bridge,  from  the  papers  of  Dr.  Zachary  Grey,  1784,  p.  32.)  He  is  termed  by 
William  Whiston,  '  a  worthy  and  learned  man,'  and  by  Lord  Macaulay,  '  the 
upright  and  learned  Thomas  Baker.'  (History  of  England,  i.  694.)  It  is 
curious  that  both  should  (quite  correctly)  apply  to  him  the  epithet  '  learned,' 
as  the  work  by  which  he  is  best  known  (Re/lections  upon  Learning)  was 
written  for  the  express  purpose  of  showing  the  insufficiency  of  human 
learning. 


IO4         LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660   1714 

Infant  Baptism,  vicar  of  Shoreham ;  Dr.  Grabe,  '  the 
greatest  man,'  wrote  his  friend  Hickes,  '  in  divine  literature, 
as  well  as  the  greatest  example  of  Christian  piety  of  this 
age.  I  wish  I  may  he  worthy  to  sit  under  his  feet  in 
Heaven ; ' l  Henry  Wharton,  Bancroft's  chaplain,  and  a 
writer  of  considerable  repute  ; 2  John  Strype,  that  useful  but 
rather  heavy  chronicler,  who  lived  in  a  country  vicarage 
for  sixty-eight  years ;  Dr.  Towerson,  rector  of  Welwyn, 
whom  we  shall  meet  again  as  a  devotional  writer,  and  whom 
Dr.  Stanhope  calls  '  a  man  remarkable  for  a  modest, 
gentle,  affable  temper  which  gave  a  lustre  to  his  accom 
plishments  ;  '  Dr.  Stanhope  himself,  to  whom  his  contem 
poraries  were  indebted  for  reintroducing  them  to  Bishop 
Andrewes'  '  Devotions,'  and  whose  character  seems  to  have 
somewhat  resembled  that  of  Lancelot  Andrewes ;  Josiah 
Woodward,  minister  of  Poplar,  the  historian  of  the  Eeligious 
Societies  ;  Edward  Wells,  Eector  of  Cottesbach,  and  author 
of  numerous  works,  one  of  which  has  been  revived  by 
'  J.  H.  N  [ewman] '  in  our  own  day;  T.  Fulwood,  Archdeacon 
of  Totnes,  the  opponent  of  Hickeringill ;  Thomas  Brett, 
rector  of  Bettesh anger,  and  a  keen  controversial  writer  on 
the  nonjuring  side ;  and,  above  all,  William  Cave,  a  really 
classical  divine,  whose  '  Primitive  Christianity  '  and  '  Historia 
Literaria  '  ought  to  live  as  long  as  the  English  language 
lives. 

There  were  many  other  clergymen  who  were  eminent 
men  in  their  way,  but  for  one  reason  or'  another  hardly  fall 
within  the  purview  of  this  chapter ;  such  e.g.  as  William 
Sherlock,  Dean  of  S.  Paul's  and  Master  of  the  Temple; 

1  Letter  from  Dean  Hickes  to  Dr.  Charlett,  Master  of  University  College, 
Oxford,  November  20,  1711.  Hearne  does  not  think  so  highly  of  him  (see 
Reliqtiice  Hearniance  (Bliss),  pp.  280-2),  but  then  there  were  not  many  of 
whom  Hearne  did  think  highly.  Robert  Nelson  praises  him  greatly.  (See 
Life  of  Bishop  Bull,  pp.  219,  221.) 

'2  See  Excerpta  ex  Vita  MS.  Henrici  WJiartoni  a  seipso  scripta.  Also 
Wharton's  very  able  and  bold  Defence  of  Pluralities  as  now  practised  in 
the  Church  of  England,  2nd  edition,  1703. 


CLERGY    OF    THE    PERIOD  1 05 

Joseph  Glanville,  rector  of  Bath,  who  has  been  termed 
'  the  most  original  thinker  of  his  age  ;  ' l  Ealph  Bathurst, 
Dean  of  Wells  and  President  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford, 
and  a  most  successful  ruler  in  the  latter  capacity ; 2  Dr. 
Aldrich,  Dean  of  Christ  Church,  whose  '  Logic  '  has  tortured 
many  of  our  older  readers,  and  who  has  the  rare  honour  of 
being  unreservedly  and  enthusiastically  praised  in  Hearne's 
diary ; 3  and  Dr.  John  North,  Prebendary  of  Westminster.4 
These  aiid  others  may  have  been  more  notable  men  of 
their  kind  than  some  who  have  been  noticed,  but  they 
can  hardly  be  regarded  as  typical  specimens  of  Church  life. 
But  enough,  it  is  hoped,  has  been  said  to  shew  that  if  any 
one  were  disposed  to  write  a  hagiology  of  the  English 
clergy,  abundant  materials  might  be  found  between  1660 
and  1714,  to  furnish  a  perfectly  truthful  and  thoroughly 
edifying  narrative. 

1  See  Cambridge  Characteristics  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,  by  J.  B. 
Mullinger  (the  Le  Bas  Prize),  1867. 

2  See  Life  and  Literary  Remains,  <fec.,  by  T.  Wharton. 

3  See  ReliquicB  Hearniance.     Diary  for  December  16,  1710,  and  for  April 
24,  1717. 

4  See  Lives  of  the  Norths,  by  Hon.  Eoger  North,  vol.  iii. 


IO6        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 


CHAPTER  III. 

FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD. 

(1)  MEN. 

THE  trials  through  which  the  Church  passed  during  the 
Rebellion  naturally  gave  a  peculiar  tone  to  the  Christian 
character  of  her  laity  as  well  as  of  her  clergy.  There  was 
even  about  the  Court  itself,  and  still  more  through  the 
country  at  large,  an  increasing  body  of  faithful  lay  church- 
people  who  by  their  examples  were  a  living  protest  against 
the  prevailing  profligacy  and  infidelity ;  and  these  were  bound 
together  to  a  greater  extent  than  has  perhaps  ever  been  the 
case  before  or  since  by  a  common  bond  of  churchmanship 
which  had  not  yet  begun  to  be  separated  into  *  High  and 
Low.' 1  It  is  purposed  to  deal  with  the  laity  as  with  the 

1  That  is,  the  names  had  not  yet  arisen.  Of  course  the  sentiments 
expressed  by  each  existed  long  before  ;  but  after  the  Eestoration  the  common 
attachment  to  the  ancient  Church  of  England  caused  the  holders  of  them 
to  put  their  differences  in  the  background.  As  to  the  names,  it  is  rather 
difficult  to  learn  when  they  first  became  general.  Roger  North  protests 
against  White  Kennet  for  antedating  them  (History  of  England,  vol.  iii. 
381)  in  terms  more  vigorous  than  polite :  '  How  in  the  D — 1's  name  he 
comes  to  antedate  the  distinctions  of  High  and  Low  Church,  I  cannot 
imagine.  There  was  not  any  dream  then  [at  the  Restoration]  of  a  distinc 
tion  in  the  Church,  but  all  were  Conformists  or  Nonconformists,  Churchmen 
or  Dissenters,  Loyal  or  Fanatic.'  (Examen,  &c.,  p.  344.)  In  1705,  Bishop 
Hooper  protests  against  '  the  invidious  distinction  '  (see  Tindal's  Continua 
tion  of  Rapin,  vol.  xvii.  pp.  208-9) ;  and  in  1707  Bishop  Fowler  of  Glou 
cester  does  the  same  from  an  opposite  point  of  view  (Visitation  Charge). 
Swift  declares  in  1703  that  '  the  very  ladies  are  divided  into  High  Church 
and  Low.'  See  also  South  and  Burnet  on  the  subject.  At  the  Revolution 
the  titles  had  become  common. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  1 07 

clergy,  that  is,  not  to  conceal  their  defects,  but  still  to 
bring  into  greater  prominence  the  evidences  which  they 
gave  of  a  true  spirit  of  piety. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  the  interesting  biography 
of  John  Barwick,  written  by  his  brother.  That  brother 
might  have  written  an  equally  edifying  Autobiography,  for 
John  and  Peter  were  'par  nobile  fratrum.'  Peter  Barwick 
(1619-1705),  like  his  brother  John,  was  a  fellow  of  S. 
John's  College,  Cambridge,  but  was  ejected  for  refusing  to 
take  the  Covenant.  He  was  faithful  to  the  Church  all 
through  the  troubles,  and  at  the  Restoration  was  made  one 
of  the  king's  physicians  in  ordinary.  He  took  a  house  near 
S.  Paul's  for  the  convenience  of  attending  daily  upon  God's 
service  in  the  Cathedral.1  During  the  Plague,  so  far  from 
shrinking  from  this  duty,  he  seems  to  have  kept  the  officiat 
ing  clergy  up  to  their  work,2  and  his  medical  experience 
seems  to  have  been  useful  to  them  in  recommending  the 
proper  recipients  of  charity.3  But  though  the  brave  Doctor 
could  not  be  driven  out  by  the  Plague,  he  was  forced  out  by 
the  Fire  which  burnt  his  house  down  the  next  year.  He 
then  took  up  his  residence,  as  the  next  best  locality,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Westminster  Abbey.  There  he  lived  for 
nearly  forty  years,  '  and  constantly  frequented  the  six  o'clock 
Prayers,  consecrating  the  beginning  of  every  day  to  God,  as 
he  always  dedicated  the  next  part  to  the  poor  ;  not  only 
prescribing  to  them  gratis,  but  furnishing  them  with  medi 
cines  at  his  own  expense,  and  charitably  relieving  their 

1  See  the  preface  to  the  Life  of  John  Barwick,  ed.  1724,  translated  by 
Hilkiah  Bedford. 

2  See  Ellis's  Original  Letters,  2nd  series,  vol.  iv.,  Letter  310,  Kev.  S.  Bing 
to  Dr.  Bancroft,  Dean  of  S.  Paul's,  August  3,  1665.     '  Our  prayers  are  con 
tinued  three  times  a  day,  but  not  our  attendance,  for  now  there  are  but 
three  petty  canons  left ;  the  rest  are  out  of  town.  .  .  .  Dr.  Barwick  asked 
me,  as  all  others,  if  I  heard  anything  concerning  the  monthly  Communion, 
the  which  I  could  say  little  to.'     (See  also  August  10,  1665.) 

3  Ellis,  iv.  p.  30,  J.  Tillison  [sic]  to  Dr.  Sancroft,  August  15,  1665.     '  I 
have  acquainted  Mr.  Bing  with  your  intentions  of  charity  towards  the  poor, 
and  shall  take  Dr.  Barwick's  advice  before  it  be  disposed  of.' 


IOS         LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

other  wants.1  Here  he  drew  up  the  life  of  his  brother; 
and  in  this  useful  combination  of  literary  and  practical 
work  he  passed  his  blameless  life  until  1694,  when  his 
eyesight  entirely  failed  him.  He  was  of  course  obliged 
then  to  '  give  up  his  practice,  and  gave  himself  to  contem 
plation  and  the  conversation  of  a  few  friends,  particularly 
his  neighbour  Dr.  Busby,'2  until  at  the  great  age  of  eighty- 
six,  he  '  passed  from  darkness  unto  light.' 

Another  fine  old  veteran  who,  like  Barwick,  was  staunch 
to  his  Church  all  through  the  Kebellion,  was  Sir  Richard 
Browne,  the  father-in-law  of  John  Evelyn.  For  nineteen 
years  he  was  the  ambassador  of  the  phantom  English  Court 
at  Paris,  and  there  kept  up  the  Anglican  services,  '  which 
were  attended  by  crowds  of  exiles  every  Festival  and 
Lord's  Day.' 3  The  same  informant  calls  him  '  a  man  never 
sufficiently  to  be  praised,'  and  attributes  it  to  his  opening 
the  doors  of  the  embassy  chapel  to  such  men  as  Bramhall, 
Cosin,  and  Earle,  that  very  few  of  the  exiles,  and  those  of 
a  vacillating  and  weak  mind,  went  over  to  the  Papists.4 
Among  those  who  comforted  themselves  by  attending  de 
voutly  to  the  liturgy  of  the  persecuted  Church  of  England 
in  Sir  E.  Browne's  chapel,  were  the  two  princes,  the  Dukes 
of  York  and  Gloucester,  the  former  actually  forfeiting  his 
mother's  favour  by  preventing  his  younger  brother  from 
turning  Eomanist ! 5  In  fact,  so  nobly  did  Sir  E.  Browne 


1  Hilkiah  Bedford's  Preface,  ut  supra.  2  Ibid. 

3  '  Hoc  sacellum  '  (Sir  K.  Browne's)  '  exules  singulis  Festis  ac  Dominicis 
diebus  frequentes  adierunt.'     (Vita  Joannis  Cosini,  T.  Smith,  published 
1707.) 

4  '  Ecclesia  Anglicana,  licet  domi  miserrimum  in  modum  oppressa  et  sub 
jugo   ingemiscens,  foris  in  exteris  plagis,   et  prassertim  in    Gallia  sub  D. 
Ricardi  Bruni,  equitis  aurati,  viri  nunquam  satis  laudandi,  qui  per  novem- 
decim  annos  usque  ad  restauratam  monarchiam  ista  Legatione  ibi  summa 
cum  laude  functus  est,  auspiciis  et'tutela,  quasi  triumphos  agebat ;  et  per- 
pauci,  vacillantis  et  infirmae  mentis,  ad  Pontificios,  ilia  relicta,  deficiebant.' 
(Ibid.) 

5  See  Miss  Strickland's  Lives  of  the  Queens  of  England :    Henrietta 
Maria,  vol.  iv.  pp.  306  and  308. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  1 09 

uphold  the  Anglican  Church  that  its  divines  '  in  their  disputes 
with  the  Papists  (then  triumphing  over  it  as  utterly  lost) 
used  to  argue  for  its  visibility  and  existence  from  Sir  Richard 
Browne's  chapel  and  assembly  there.' }  It  is  pleasant  to 
know  that  one  who  so  bravely  supported  the  Church  in  her 
adversity  lived  long  enough  to  enjoy  more  than  twenty  years 
of  her  prosperity,  for  he  did  not  die  until  the  spring  of  168§. 
From  the  father-in-law  we  naturally  turn  to  the  son-in- 
law,  John  Evelyn  (1620-1706).  It  has  been  insinuated  that 
as  Evelyn  managed  to  secure,  more  or  less,  the  favour  of  all 
parties  during  the  many  changes  of  his  long  life,  he  must 
have  trimmed  his  sails  to  meet  the  popular  gale,  but  there 
really  is  no  ground  for  the  insinuation.  He  was  from  first 
to  last  true  to  his  principles  as  a  churchman,  but  he  was  so 
thoroughly  amiable,  pious,  and  peaceable  a  man  that  he 
conciliated,  without  any  unworthy  compromise,  all  parties. 
He  certainly  had  the  courage  of  his  opinions  or  he  would 
never  have  published  his  bold  'Apology  for  the  King,'  at 
a  time  when  it  wras  a  capital  offence  to  write  or  speak  in 
favour  of  the  exiled  monarch  ;  and  his  '  Account  of  England,' 
written  in  the  person  of  a  foreigner  who  is  disgusted  with 
what  he  sees  of  the  state  of  our  country  in  1659,  though 
published  anonymously  (as  the  nature  of  the  work  required) 
must  have  run  the  risk  of  having  its  true  authorship  easily 
traced.  At  any  rate,  a  churchman  should  be  the  last  person 
to  complain  of  Evelyn's  favour  with  the  usurping  powers, 
for  he  invariably  used  the  opportunities  which  that  favour 
gave  him  to  help  distressed  churchmen,  of  whom  he  has 
been  deservedly  termed,  '  the  Mecsenas  or  the  Gaius.' 2  He 
had  the  honour  of  befriending  Jeremy  Taylor  in  more  ways 
than  one ;  he  cheered  him  with  his  company,  relieved  his 
poverty,  and  when  that  great  divine  was  cast  into  the  Tower 
used  all  his  influence  to  procure  his  release.  He  continued 
to  worship  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Church  when  such 

1  Evelyn's  Diary  for  February  12,  168  e,. 

-   Quarterly  Review  for  July  1871,  '  Jeremy  Taylor.' 


IIO         LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

worship  was  strictly  prohibited,  and  on  one  occasion  at  least, 
did  so  with  imminent  danger  to  his  life.1  But  he  held  no 
preferment  of  which  he  could  be  deprived  ;  he  was  a  gentle 
man  of  private  means,  and  his  marriage  added  to  those 
means  ;  in  right  of  his  wife  he  became  possessor  of  Sayes 
Court,  near  Deptford,  the  place  which  he  has  immortalised 
in  his  Diary.  He  passed  the  period  of  his  enforced,  but 
very  acceptable,  retirement  during  the  Eebellion  after  the 
fashion  of  many  private  gentlemen,  partly  abroad  and  partly 
at  home,  enriching  his  mind  with  varied  knowledge.  The 
author  of  the  '  Silva '  is  best  known  for  his  skill  in  horti 
culture,  but  he  also  took  a  lively  interest  in  natural  philo 
sophy,  and  was  one  of  the  earliest  members  of  the  Royal 
Society.  He  also  studied  the  fine  arts,  and  wrote  with 
intelligence  on  sculpture,  architecture,  and  medals.  In  fact, 
it  was  because  loyal  gentlemen  like  Evelyn  were  thrown 
upon  their  own  resources,  and  took  refuge  from  the  storm 
of  politics  and  theology  in  purely  intellectual  pursuits,  that 
the  Restoration  period  was  so  remarkable  for  its  intellectu 
ality.  On  the  return  of  the  king  it  was  a  sense  of  public 
duty  rather  than  inclination,  that  drew  him  from  his  privacy. 
As  a  Commissioner  for  the  Sick  and  Wounded  in  the  southern 
ports  during  the  Dutch  war,  he  had  boundless  scope  for  the 
exercise  of  his  Christian  charity ; 2  as  a  Commissioner  for 
the  Rebuilding  of  S.  Paul's  he  had  opportunities  of  helping 
that  Church,  which  he  calls  the  most  primitive,  apostolical, 
and  excellent  on  earth  ; 3  and  as  Commissioner  of  Trade  and 
Plantations  he  had  the  opportunity  of  securing  the  ministra 
tions  of  that  Church  for  the  colonies.4  His  duties  often 
required  him  to  be  in  the  Court,  but  he  was  never  of  the 
Court.  After  having  witnessed  splendid  vice  flaunting 
itself  there,  *  I  went  home,'  he  writes,  '  contented,  to  my 

1  See  Walker's  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  pp.  304-5. 

2  See,   inter  alia,  Pepys'  Diary,  describing   Evelyn's  scheme  for   an 
Infirmary. 

3  Diary  for  October  2,  1685. 

4  See  Anderson's  History  of  the  Colonial  Church,  iii.  p.  45. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  I  I  I 

poor  but  quiet  villa.  What  contentment  can  there  be  in  the 
riches  and  splendour  of  this  world  purchased  with  vice  and 
dishonour  ?  '  '  He  found,  indeed,  even  at  the  Court,  patterns 
of  piety  and  virtue  ; 2  but  under  none  of  the  monarchs  with 
whom  he  was  connected  did  he  find  any  encouragement  of 
the  type  of  religion  which  he  loved.  When  the  immorality 
of  Charles  was  exchanged  for  the  bigotry  of  James  he  alludes 
feelingly  to  the  danger  which  beset  the  Church  from  the 
side  of  Borne,3  and  when  this  again  was  exchanged  for  the 
Presbyterianism  of  William  he  refers  with  evident  regret  to 
'  the  new  oath  that  was  fabricating  for  the  clergy,  driven  on 
by  the  Presbyterians,  our  new  governors.' 4  One  can  well 
understand  with  what  satisfaction  such  a  man  would  turn 
from  all  these  (to  him)  unsatisfactory  phases  of  Church  life 
to  his  own  private  life.  The  entries  which  contain  his  pious 
meditations  on  his  birthday  (October  31),  year  by  year,  and 
on  the  days  when  he  received  the  Holy  Communion,5  and 
on  the  religious  training  of  his  children,  are  most  touching. 
Well  may  his  Diary  be  termed  '  one  of  the  finest  pictures  of 
the  mind  of  a  virtuous,  honest  man,  a  true  patriot,  and  a 
pure  Christian,  that  ever  was  penned,' 6  and  well  may  his 
life  be  called  '  an  episode  in  five  reigns,  during  which  he 
was  known  by  all  parties,  and  beloved  by  whomsoever 
known.' 7  On  the  death  of  his  elder  brother  he  succeeded 
to  the  family  estate,  retired  to  Wotton,  and  threw  himself 
with  ardour  into  the  schemes  of  Christian  benevolence 
which  characterised  the  early  years  of  the  eighteenth  cen 
tury.8 

Thomas  Willis  (1621-1675)  is  said  to  have  been  '  one  of 

Diary  for  October  4,  1683. 
See  his  Life  of  Mrs.  Godolphin,  passim. 

See  Diary  for  October  2,  1685.  *  Diary  for  April  26,  1689. 

See  Diary  for  Easter  Day,  1673,  1679  ;  Ash  Wednesday,  1682  ;  May  6, 
1694,  &c. 

Elmes's  Sir  C.  Wren  and  his  Times,  p.  371. 
Willmott's  Life  of  Bis}iop  Jeremy  Taylor,  p.  205. 
See  Diary  for  May  3,  1702,  &c. 


112         LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

the  most  famous  physicians  of  his  time,' l  and  he  was  at 
least  as  conspicuous  for  his  piety  and  moral  courage.  After 
having  taken  his  degree  at  Oxford,  he  took  up  arms  for 
the  king  in  1642,  but  it  was  on  other  scenes  than  the  battle 
field  that  his  courage  was  displayed.  In  1646  he  took  a 
medical  degree,  and  began  to  practise  at  Oxford,  living  in 
a  house  opposite  to  Merton  College.  This  house  has 
become  historical ;  for  in  it  he  opened  a  room  for  divine 
worship,  where  Fell,  Dolben,  and  Allestree  '  did  constantly 
exercise  as  they  had  partly  before  done  in  Canterbury 
Quadrangle,  the  Liturgy  and  Sacraments  according  to  the 
Church  of  England,  to  which  most  of  the  loyalists  in  Oxon, 
especially  scholars  that  had  been  ejected  in  1648,  did  daily 
resort.' 2  The  courage  requisite  to  do  this,  especially  after 
the  Ordinance  of  1655,  is  obvious.  Willis  was,  no  doubt, 
well  supported  by  his  wife,  who  was  the  daughter  of 
Samuel,  and  sister  of  John  Fell,  and  to  whom  he  was 
most  tenderly  attached.  He  was  one  of  that  philosophical 
coterie  at  Oxford  which  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  Koyal 
Society,  and  was  one  of  the  earliest  elected  fellows  of  that 
great  Society.  At  the  Restoration  he  was  made  Sedleian 
Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy ;  and  in  1666,  at  the  so 
licitation  of  Archbishop  Sheldon,  he  removed  to  London, 
and  was  made  physician  in  ordinary  to  the  king.  Both  at 
Oxford  and  in  London  he  made  a  point  of  attending  daily 
an  early  church  service  before  visiting  his  patients ; 3  and 
when  he  lived  in  S.  Martin's  Lane  he  '  procured  a  service 
to  be  performed  early  in  the  neighbouring  church.'  And 
being  desirous  that  other  busy  people  like  himself  should 
have  similar  privileges,  '  some  years  before  his  death  he 
settled  a  salary  for  a  reader  to  read  prayers  in  S.  Martin's 
Church  in  the  Fields  early  and  late  every  day  to  such 
servants  and  people  of  that  parish  who  could  not,  through 

1  Wood's  Athena  Oxonienses,  ii.  402. 

2  Fell's  Life  of  Henry  Hammond. 

9  See  Autobiography  of  Simon  Patrick,  p.  51  (Oxford  edition,  1839). 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  113 

the  multiplicity  of  business,  'attend  the  ordinary  service 
daily  there  performed.'  '  And  he  left  in  his  will  20L  a  year 
for  the  continuance  of  these  services.  He  always  devoted 
his  Sunday  fees  to  charitable  purposes,  and  he  '  left  behind 
him  the  character  of  an  orthodox,  pious,  and  charitable 
physician.' 2 

Izaac   Walton   (1593-1683),  like  Dr.   Willis,  had  been 
most  faithful  to  the  Church  through  her  troubles,  during 
which  he  rendered  difficult  and  sometimes  dangerous  service 
to  the  royal  cause  and  succoured  to  the  best  of  his  ability 
distressed  churchmen ;  in  Walton's  home  on  the  beautiful 
banks  of  the  Dove,  Dr.  Morley  and  other  loyal  gentlemen 
found  a  shelter ;  there  too  he  maintained  a  close   friend 
ship  with  Dr.  Sanderson  and  Dr.  King  (afterwards  Bishop 
of   Chichester),  and    there    he    helped  to  form  the  sweet 
character  of  Ken,  whose  eldest  sister  became  his  second  wife 
in  1647,  and  whose  youth  was  spent  under  his  eye.     Elias 
Ashmole,  speaking   of  his   services  during  the  Common 
wealth,  says  that  he  was  'well  known  and  as  well  loved 
as  known  by  all  good  men.'     After  the  Eestoration,  Dr. 
Morley,  now  Bishop   of  Winchester,   repaid  his  kindness 
by  giving  him  a  home  in  the  Cathedral  Close ;  and  there  he 
passed  the  last  twenty-three  years  of  his  quiet  and  blame 
less  life,  writing  those  immortal  <  Lives  '  which  have  perhaps 
done  as  much  as  any  single  publication  to   embalm   the 
memory  of  the  Church's  worthies,3 

Christian  characters  may  be  of  very  different  types,  and 
except  in  their  agreement  on  the  one  essential  point,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find  a  greater  contrast  than  between 
Walton  and  our  next  subject.  Robert  Boyle  (162f-1691), 
son  of  the  Earl  of  Cork,  is  said  to  have  received  "his  first 
serious  impressions  during  a  terrible  thunderstorm  in  Swit- 

1  Fell's  Life  of  Hammond.  ?.  Ibid. 

3  See  Life  of  Izaac  Walton,  by  Thomas  Zouch,  Prebendary  of  Durham, 
1825,  and  Teale's  Lives  of  English  Laymen  (vol.  xxii.  of  Englishman's 
Library}. 


J 


114          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

zerland  ;    but  as  he  was  piously  brought  up,  and  as  his 
sister,  who  was   many  years   older  than  himself,   and  to 
whom  he  was  always  most  devotedly  attached,  had  been 
eminent  for  her  piety  long  before,  it  is  more  likely  that  the 
incident  of  the  storm  only  served  to  ripen  the  good  seed 
which  had  been  sown  at  an  earlier  date.   At  any  rate,  from 
first  to  last  he  led  a  consistently  Christian  life,  his  devotion 
to  natural  philosophy  only  tending  to  enlarge  and  deepen 
his  religious  principles,  as  it  did  in  many  other  instances 
during  our  period.     Wherever  there  was  any  good  Chris 
tian  work  to  be  done,  there  was  Kobert  Boyle  ever  ready  to 
speed  it  on  with  his  purse  and  his  brain  and  all  the  social 
influence  which  his  name  and  position  commanded.      Of 
his  earlier  life  he  has  written  an  Autobiography  in  the  third 
person  under  the  name   of  *  Philaretus,'  but  as  it  ends  in 
1641,  it  does  not  carry  us  very  far.     His  life,  however,  was 
constantly  before   the  public,  so  there  is  no  difficulty  in 
tracing  its  course.     It  was  a  singularly  active  life,  both  in 
the  intellectual  and  the  practical  spheres  ;  in  the  intellectual 
sphere  he  divided  his  studies  between  theology  and  natural 
philosophy ;    or   rather,  with  him  the  two  went  hand  in 
hand,  for  the  chief  charm  to  him  of  his  scientific  investi 
gations  was  that  they  gave  him  larger  and  nobler   ideas 
of  the  Creator.1     His  friends  thinking  that  a  clerical  life 
would  be  most  congenial  to  so  deeply  religious  a  man, 
urged  him  after  the  Eestoration  to  seek  Holy  Orders,  but 
this  he  declined  to  do,  partly  because  he  did  not  feel  that 
he  had  any  vocation  for  the  office,  and  partly  because  he 
thought  that  his  writings  in  defence  of  Christianity  would 
have  more  effect  as   coming   from  a   layman  than  from 
a  clergyman.     He  was  not  an  ambitious  man  ;  he  declined 
the  presidency  of  the  Eoyal  Society,  and,  more  than  once, 
a  peerage.     His  aim  was  to  be  useful,  and  he  thoroughly 
succeeded ;  few  men  of  his  day  did  more  useful  work  in  the 
departments  both  of  science  and  religion.     His  Christian 
1  See  his  Christian  Virtuoso,  passim. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  I  I  5 

efforts,  though  variously  directed,  all  centred  in  one  great 
ohject,  the  spread  of  the  gospel  in  all  lands.  He  used 
his  influence  as  a  director  of  the  East  India  Company  to 
induce  that  society  to  promote  Christianity  in  the  East. 
The  revival  of  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in 
New  England,  after  the  Eestoration,  was  chiefly  due  to  his 
efforts  ;  and  both  with  his  purse  and  his  brain  he  contri 
buted  towards  the  translating  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  and 
other  good  books  into  many  languages.1  In  all  his  pious 
labours  he  was  warmly  supported  by  his  sister,  Lady 
Eanelagh,  with  whom  he  lived  in  London  after  he  had  left 
Oxford,  that  is,  for  nearly  thirty  years.  He  was  a  regular 
worshipper  at  S.  Martin's  in  the  Fields,  under  Tenison,  and 
held  we  are  told  much  holy  converse  with  the  rector,  who 
ministered  to  him  in  his  -last  sickness.  His  reputation 
among  his  contemporaries  was  extraordinarily  high.  Addi- 
son  calls  him  '  an  honour  to  his  country,' 2  his  biographer, 
'  a  man  superior  to  titles,  and  almost  to  praise,' 3  Edmund 
Calamy,  '  one  of  the  two  great  ornaments  of  Charles  II. 's 
reign,' 4  but  Samuel  Wesley  the  elder  reaches  the  climax 
when  he  compares  him  to  Elijah,5  Exaggeration  apart, 
he  was  an  excellent  man,  and  his  works  do  follow  him  ; 
witness  the  'Boyle  Lectures,'  the  object  and  success  of 
which  are  too  well  known  to  need  description.  As,  however, 
it  is  desired  above  all  things  to  be  perfectly  fair,  it  must  be 
added  that  though  Boyle  was  a  regular  worshipper  at  his 

1  E.g.,  hearing  that  the  learned  Pocock  was  prevented  by  financial  dif 
ficulties  from  publishing  his  Arabic  version  of  Grotius'  De  Veritate  d'c.,  he 
undertook  the  whole  expense  of  the  publication.  (See  Anderson's  Colonial 
Church,  ii.  127.)  At  his  own  expense  he  had  the  Gospels  and  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles  translated  into  the  Malay  tongue  ;  and  he  also  offered  to  pub 
lish  at  his  own  expense  a  Turkish  version  of  the  New  Testament,  but  the 
East  India  Company  very  properly  insisted  upon  relieving  him  of  a  portion 
of  the  cost.  He  contributed  largely  towards  the  publication  of  a  Welsh 
and  Irish  Bible,  and  corresponded  with  Eliot,  '  the  apostle  of  the  Indians,' 
respecting  a  translation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  into  the  Indian  tongue. 

•  Spectator,  No.  531. 

3  Quoted  in  Diary  d'c.  of  Dr.  J.  Wortliington,  p.  123,  note. 

4  Account  of  My  Own  Life,  i.  227.  5  The  Athenian  Oracle,  i.  65. 

i  2 


Il6          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

parish  church  and  no  other  place,  a  friend  of  the  clergy, 
and  in  no  way  out  of  accord  with  the  Church's  doctrine 
and  discipline,  still  his  Christian  character  was  not  so 
obviously  and  distinctively  the  product  of  the  Church's 
system  as  were  those  of  the  laymen  noticed  above. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  other  pious  and  distin 
guished  layman  whom  Calamy  couples  with  Boyle  as  a  great 
ornament  of  Charles  II.'s  reign.  Sir  Matthew  Hale  (1609- 
1676)  may  fairly  be  reckoned  among  the  great  lay  church 
men  of  the  Restoration  period,  inasmuch  as  'he  always 
declared  himself  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  said  those 
of  the  separation  were  good  men,  but  they  had  narrow 
souls,  who  would  break  the  peace  of  the  Church  about  such 
inconsiderable  matters  as  the  points  in  difference  were  ;  ' 
but  the  last  clause  seems  rightly  to  describe  the  extent 
and  character  of  his  churchmanship ;  that  is,  it  was  the 
breadth  rather  than  the  distinctive  doctrines  and  practices 
of  the  Church  that  kept  him  within  her  pale.  Still,  it  is 
clear  that  his  pious  instincts  found  sufficient  scope  in  the 
Church  of  his  baptism.  He  was  a  regular  worshipper  at 
her  altars  and  a  devout  communicant,  and  observed  with 
particular  devotion  her  festivals.  The  story  of  his  last 
Communion  is  very  touching.  '  Not  long  before  his.  death 
the  minister  told  him  there  was  to  be  a  Sacrament  next 
Sunday  at  church,  but  he  believed  he  could  not  come  and 
partake  with  the  rest ;  therefore  he  would  give  it  him  in  his 
own  house.  But  he  answered,  "  No ;  his  Heavenly  Father  had 
prepared  a  feast  for  him,  and  he  would  go  to  his  Father's 
house  to  partake  of  it."  So  he  made  himself  be  carried 
thither  in  his  chair,  where  he  received  the  sacrament  on  his 
knees  with  great  devotion,  which  it  may  be  supposed  was 
the  greater  because  he  apprehended  it  was  to  be  his  last, 

1  Bishop  Burnet's  Life  of  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  p.  49.  To  the  same  effect  his 
other  biographer,  Sir  J.  Williams,  says  '  he  believed  that  the  calamity  of 
the  Church  and  withering  of  religion  hath  come  from  proud  and  busy  men's 
additions,'  etc. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  HJ 

and  so  took  it  as  his  viaticum  and  provision  for  his  journey.' l 
In  his  religious,  as  in  his  judicial  life  one  would  have  liked 
to  see  him  a  little  less  timid,  but  still  churchmen  may 
gladly  welcome  in  their  ranks  one  who  had  deservedly  so 
high  a  reputation  for  integrity  and  piety. 

May  they  also  welcome  another  distinguished  layman, 
Sir  Thomas  Browne  (1G05-1G82)  ?  Surely,  if  his  own  words 
are  to  be  believed,  they  may.  The  author  of  the  '  Eeligio 
Medici '  was  called  by  some  a  Komanist,  by  others  a  Quaker, 
by  others  an  Atheist,  but  this  is  what  he  says  of  him 
self  :  '  To  difference  myself  nearer,  and  draw  into  a  lesser 
circle  ;  there  is  no  church  whose  every  point  so  squares 
unto  my  conscience,  whose  articles,  constitutions,  and 
customs  seem  so  consonant  unto  reason,  and,  as  it  were, 
framed  to  my  particular  devotions,  as  this  whereof  I  hold 
my  belief,  the  Church  of  England.  Where  Scripture  is 
silent,  the  Church  is  my  text,  where  that  speaks  'tis  but  my 
comment.'2  Dr.  Johnson,  to  whose  interesting  biography 
of  Sir  T.  Browne  the  reader  must  be  referred,  strongly  con 
tends  that  he  was  a  Christian  and  a  churchman. 

A  sad  mystery,  which  has  never  been  cleared  up,  has 
drawn  attention  to  another  worthy  layman,  who  but  for 
his  melancholy  end  would  have  long  ago  passed  into 
oblivion.  But  every  one  has  heard  of  the  mysterious  death 
of  Sir  Edmondsbury  Godfrey,  though  every  one  may  not  be 
aware  that  he  was  an  excellent  churchman,  and  so  firm  and 
conscientious  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  a  magistrate, 
that  Charles  II.  (who  could  appreciate  virtues  in  others 
which  he  did  not  practise  himself)  used  to  call  him  the  best 
justice  of  peace  in  the  kingdom.  During  the  Great  Plague 
of  London,  while  others  fled,  he  remained  manfully  at  his 
post,  tending  the  sufferers  with  his  own  hand,  and  feeding 
the  starving  and  deserted  poor.  Is  it  not  possible  that  the 
immense  concourse  of  clergy  at  his  funeral,  over  which 

1  Burnet's  Life,  p.  74. 

2  Works  of  Sir  T.  Bruwne,  vol.  ii. ;  Eeligio  Medici,  §  5,  p.  323. 


Il8          LIFE    IN    TUP:    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

Roger  North  makes  merry,  may  have  been  due,  not  only  to 
the  panic  which  turned  the  funeral  into  a  Protestant 
demonstration,  but  also  to  the  respect  which  was  felt  for  the 
memory  of  a  faithful  lay  churchman  ? 

There  is  another  estimable  layman  who  has  been  rescued 
from  oblivion  by  one  single  incident, — John  Kyrle  (1637- 
17 14),1  immortalised  by  Pope  as  the  '  Man  of  Ross.' 

Who  taught  that  heaven-directed  spire  to  rise  ? 
'  The  Man  of  Ross  !  '  each  lisping  babe  replies. 

But  perhaps  not  only  the  *  lisping  babe,'  but  many  well-in 
formed  adults  might  not  be  able  to  reply  that  it  was  under 
the  shadow  of  that  heaven-directed  spire  that  the  Man  of 
Ross  was  taught  to  live  the  life  he  so  nobly  devoted  to 
works  of  charity  and  attempts  to  brighten  a  little  the  dreary 
existence  of  the  country  poor.  Such,  however,  was  the 
case.  When  the  church  bell  rang,  every  day,  week-day  and 
Sunday,  he  laid  all  his  occupations  aside,  '  washed  his 
hands  for  seemliness,  and  went  to  pray.'  The  clergyman 
of  the  parish,  Dr.  Whiting,  whose  name  deserves  to  be  held 
in  memory,  was  his  dearest  friend  and  spiritual  adviser ; 
the  two  went  hand  in  hand  in  every  work  of  piety  and 
benevolence,  and  when  John  Kyrle  died,  he  was  buried,  by 
his  own  special  desire,  at  the  foot  of  him  at  whose  feet  he 
had  sat  so  long  during  his  lifetime. 

Hitherto,  in  these  sketches  of  lay  churchmen,  we  have 
been  able  to  keep  clear  of  the  tangled  web  of  politics ;  the 
subjects  of  them  either  stood  aloof  from  politics  altogether, 
or  it  has  been  perfectly  easy  to  disengage  their  religious 
from  their  political  characters.  But  there  is  one  great  lay 
man  of  the  Restoration  period,  a  churchman  of  churchmen, 
in  whom  the  religious  and  political  elements  were  so  inex 
tricably  mixed  up  that  it  is  impossible  to  separate  them. 
That  one  is  Edward  Hyde,  Earl  of  Clarendon  (1608-1674). 
Historians  whose  political  bias  was  the  \ery  opposite  of 

1  According  to  another  authority  his  date  is  163-1-1721. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  IK) 

Clarendon's  have  admitted  that  he  was   a   man   of  deep 
earnestness  and  sincerity  in  his  religious  views ;  and  on  the 
other  hand,  those  whose  hias  is  in  the  same  direction  as 
Clarendon's  will  hardly  contend  that  his    Church  policy, 
which  resulted  in  what  has  been  termed  the  '  Clarendonian 
Code,' l   was   altogether  a  wise  or  a  just  one.     But  it  is 
utterly  unfair  to  judge  either  him  or  it  by  the  standard  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  and  equally  unfair  to  ignore  the 
fact  that  he  was  urged  on  from  below  to  greater  severity 
against  nonconformists  than  his  own  judgment  approved 
of.     His  personal  character  is  not  here  held  up  as  that  of 
a  model  Christian.  But,  after  making  all  deductions  for  his 
haughtiness  and  irritability,  his  intolerance  and  his  love  of 
amassing  and  spending  money,  there  yet  remains  much  in 
him  to  admire.     His  strong  sense  of  religion,  his  devotion 
to  the  Church,  his  integrity  and  untainted  morals,  his  dis 
countenance  of  the  immorality  prevailing  at  Court,  are  surely 
features  in  his  character  worthy  of  admiration.     At  least  a 
share  of  the  unpopularity  which  led  to  his  downfall  must  be 
attributed  to  the  tacit  reproach  which  his  strict  life  conveyed 
to  the  laxity  of   his  surroundings.     And  moreover,   '  the 
fierce  light  which  beats  upon  a  throne,  and  blackens  every 
blot,'  beats  yet  more  fiercely  upon  one  who,  to  the  disgust 
of  multitudes  of  far  higher  social  standing,  came  as  near  to 
a  throne  as  a  subject,  not  of  the  blood  royal,  nor  indeed  of 
gentle  blood  at  all,  could  well  do.     An  angel  in   such  a 
position  would  find  many  detractors.     Lord  Clarendon  was 
no  angel,  but  he  was  a  man  whose  defects  were  to  a  great 
extent°  the  defects  of  his  age,  and  of  the  trying  circumstances 
in  which  he  was  placed,  while  his  virtues  were  his  own. 

Of  the  many  churchmen  who  utilised  their  enforced 
leisure  during  the  Rebellion  for  the  purposes  of  mental 
cultivation  and  learned  research,  few  improved  the  time 
more  diligently  than  Elias  Ashmole  (1617-1692),  whose 

1  See  Lord  Campbell's  Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancellors,  vol.  iv.  pp.  19-97, 
where    a  full  account  of  the  '  Code  '  will  be  found. 


120         LIFE    IX    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

name  is  still  connected  with  one  of  Oxford's  most  useful 
buildings.     On  June  16,  1647,  he  records,  'One  Hor.  post 
merid.  it  pleased  God  to  put  me  in  mind  that  I  was  now 
placed  in  the  condition  I  always  desired,  which  was,  that  I 
might  be  enabled  to  live  to  myself  and  my  studies ;  and 
seeing  I  am  thus  retired,  according  to  my  heart's  desire,  I 
beseech  God  to  bless  me  in  my  retirement  and  to  prosper 
my  studies  that  I  may  faithfully  and  diligently  serve  Him, 
and  in  all  things  submit  to  His  will ;  and  for  the  peace  and 
happiness  I  enjoy  (in  the  midst  of  bad  times)  to  render  Him 
all  humble  thanks,  and  for  what  I  attain  to,  in  the  course 
of  my  studies,  to  give  Him  glory.' '    His  prayer  was  granted, 
for  his  whole  life  was  spent  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of 
the  above  entry.     After  the  Eestoration  he  was  patronised 
by  the   king,2  but   not  in   the  least  corrupted   nor  drawn 
away  from  his  favourite  pursuits.     He  lived  in  honourable 
retirement  at  Lambeth,  and  was  on  visiting  terms  with  his 
neighbour  Archbishop  Bancroft.3     But  he  did  not  forget  his 
native  place,  Lichfield,  and  its   beautiful   little  cathedral. 
The  Corporation  of  Lichfield  write  to  thank  him  for  *  the 
receipt  of  a  silver  bowl,— very  flowery.'     '  Nor,'  they  add, 
(  have  you  only  given  us  this  great  cratera,  but  you  have 
largely  offered    to    the   repair    of   his    church,    our   ruin'd 
Cathedral  .  .  .  and  you  have  annually  and  liberally  refreshed 
Christ  in  his  members  the  poor  of  this  city.' 4     Twenty-two 
years   later  we   have  a  letter   from  '  the    Chapter   of  the 

1  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  that  learned  Antiquary,  Elias  Ashmole,  Esq., 
drawn  up  by  himself  by  way  of  Diary,  published  1717. 

'1660-Kissed  the  king's  hand.'  (Note  by  editor:  'The  king  took 
great  notice  of  him  as  a  scientific  man  ;  he  had  never  been  noticed  by  any 
authorities  during  the  Rebellion.')  'July  19,  1660— Mr.  Secretary  Morris 
told  me  the  king  had  a  great  kindness  for  me.'  '  22nd  Ditto.— The  king 
appointed  mo  to  make  a  description  of  his  medals.'  See  also  the  entry  for 
January  6,  1675,  &c. 

'  August  15,  1679.— My  Lord's  Grace  of  Canterbury  came  to  visit  me  at 
my  house,  and  spent  a  great  part  of  the  day  with  me  in  my  study.*'     '  July 
26,  1680. —  The  Archbishop's  sister  and  niece  came  to  visit  my  wife.' 
4  Letter,  dated  '  January  16,  1666.'     (See  Memoirs,  &c.) 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  1  2  I 

Church  of  Lichfield,'  who  speak  *  of  the  honour  Lichfield 
felt  in  being  his  birthplace  and  the  place  of  his  education,' 
and  '  of  his  liberal  charity  to  the  city,'  and  ask  him  to  help 
them  in  'finishing  the  ring  of  ten  bells,'  adding,  'if  you 
help  it  will  add  to  your  reputation  for  piety  and  munificence 
already  renowned.'  Ashmole  cannot  be  regarded  as  a 
prominent  churchman  of  the  period,  but  he  deserves  notice 
as  one  out  of  many  instances  of  the  power  which  the  Church 
had  to  attract  and  keep  within  her  pale,  men  of  varied 
culture  and  accomplishments. 

If  this  were  a  history  of  all  the  great  and  good  men 
who  lived  during  the  Restoration  period,  mention  would 
have  to  be  made  of  the  religious  and  liberal-minded 
Wriothesley,  Earl  of  Southampton,  of  that  staunch  and 
stainless  royalist,  James  Butler,  Duke  of  Ormond,  and  of 
that  honourable  statesman,  Sir  William  Coventry.  But 
these,  and  men  like  them,  i  hough  certainly  not  hostile  to  the 
Church,  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  typical  lay-churchmen. 
We  may  therefore  pass  on  to  those  who,  though  most  of 
them  alive  during  the  Restoration  period,  came  into 
prominence  during  the  later  era  which  this  work  embraces. 
As  a  sort  of  connecting  link  between  the  two  eras  let  us 
first  take  Sir  Christopher  Wren  (1632-1723).  He  is  now 
known  only  as  the  most  original  of  English  architects,  but 
he  had  achieved  distinction  in  other  fields  before  he  even 
began  to  turn  his  attention  to  architecture.  In  very  early 
years  he  had  shewn  a  precocious  genius  for  science,  and 
when  he  was  scarcely  twenty- five  years  of  age  he  was 
appointed  Savilian  Professor  of  Astronomy  at  Gresham 
College.  About  six  years  later  he  took  up  architecture  as 
a  profession,  and  we  all  know  with  what  success.  All 
through,  he  was  the  pious  humble  Christian.  The  son  of  a 
dean  and  the  nephew  of  a  bishop  could  hardly  fail  to  be  a 
churchman,  but  his  churchmanship  was  not  merely 
hereditary,  it  was  the  result  of  deliberate  conviction.  His 
one  defect,  so  far  as  his  worldly  interest  and  perhaps  also 


122          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

his  usefulness  were  concerned,  really  adds  to  the  beauty  of 
his  Christian  character.  He  suffered  from  an  almost  morbid 
modesty,  and  on  that  account  is  made  to  point  a  moral, 
under  the  title  of  '  Nestor,'  by  the  writers  of  the  '  Tatler  ' 
(No.  52)*.  His  latest  biographer  has  remarked  with  perfect 
truth  that  '  in  a  corrupt  age  all  testimony  leaves  Wren 
spotless.  In  a  position  of  great  trust  and  still  greater  diffi 
culty,  his  integrity  was  but  the  more  clearly  shown  by  the 
attacks  made  against  him.  Among  the  foremost  philosophers 
of  his  age,  he  was  a  striking  example  that  "  every  good  gift 
and  every  perfect  gift  is  from  above ;  "  no  child  could  hold 
the  truths  of  Christianity  with  a  more  undoubting  faith 
than  did  Sir  Christopher  Wren.' ! 

Another  eminent  layman  who  is  a  link  between  our 
two  periods  was  Thomas  Thynne,  Viscount  Weymouth.  He 
had  the  inestimable  advantage  of  being  directed  in  his 
youthful  studies  by  the  great  Hammond,  at  Westwood  the 
abode  of  Thynne' s  aunt,  Lady  Pakington,  and  at  college 
he  was  the  friend  and  companion  of  the  saintly  Ken.2 
Brought  up  amid  such  surroundings  it  is  no  wonder  that 
he  was  a  staunch  and  benevolent  churchman.  In  the 
many  pious  and  charitable  schemes  of  the  later  part  of  the 
seventeenth  and  the  earlier  part  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  name  of  Lord  Weymouth  is  always  prominent.  He 
helped  Dr.  Bray  liberally  in  his  attempt  to  found  parochial 
libraries,  contributed  300L  towards  his  expenses  in  Mary 
land,  sent  forth  '  an  itinerant  missionary '  thither  at  his 
own  cost,  largely  and  frequently  aided  the  Christian  Know 
ledge  Society  in  its  home  work  (judiciously  choosing  Robert 
Nelson  as  his  almoner),  and  was  the  supporter  of  every 
good  work  set  on  foot  in  the  neighbourhood  of  his  own 
home  at  Longleat.  He  gave  the  shelter  of  his  roof  to  his 

1  See  Christopher  Wren,  his  Family  and  his  Times,  by  Lucy  Phillimore, 
p.  225.     See  also,  Sir  Christopher  Wren-  and  his  Times,  by  James  Eliiies, 
and  Wren's  Parentalia. 

2  See  Life  of  Ken,  by  a  Layman,  p.  019. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERFOD  123 

old  friend  Ken,  and  supplemented  the  scanty  resources  of 
the  deprived  bishop.  Nor  was  Ken  the  only  nonjuror  who 
experienced  the  effects  of  his  bounty.  Dr.  Smith  1  speaks 
of  'the  prodigious  bounty  of  Lord  and  Lady  Weymouth 
bestowed  on  persons  in  need  of  such  supports,'  and  Lord 
Dartmouth  owns  that  '  he  was  very  liberal  to  nonjuror s  ' 
and  that  '  his  house  was  constantly  full  of  people  of  that 
sort.'  It  is  fair  to  add  that  Lord  Dartmouth  also  says 
'  he  was  a  weak,  proud  man '  and  that  '  he  was  extremely 
pleased  to  be  cried  up  by  the  non  jurors  for  a  very  religious 
man,  having  affected  to  be  thought  so  all  his  life,  which  the 
companions  of  his  youth  would  by  no  means  allow.' 2  Lord 
Dartmouth  gives  no  proof  of  all  this,  while  there  are  strong 
presumptions  to  the  contrary.  Ken  distinctly  declares  that 
'the  good  lord  really  does  conduct  his  life  by  the  divine 
maxims  recorded  by  S.  Paul.'3  A  fellow  of  the  Eoyal 
Society  and  one  '  who  was  reckoned  a  very  good  judge  of 
men  ' 4  could  hardly  be  without  brains  ;  and  a  nobleman  who 
corresponded  with  and  visited  a  worthy  nonconformist  who 
was  socially  very  much  his  inferior  could  not  be  altogether 
proud. 

The  name  of  Simon,  Lord  Digby,  is  constantly  found 
associated  with  that  of  Lord  Weymouth  in  all  schemes  of 
religion  and  philanthropy.  One  is  apt  to  look  with  a  little 
suspicion  upon  proteges'  panegyrics  of  their  patrons,  but 
when  those  proteges  are  John  Kettlewell  and  Thomas  Bray, 
we  may  safely  take  their  testimony  without  even  the  pro 
verbial  grain  of  salt.  Both  these  saintly  clergymen  of 
course  knew  Lord  Digby  intimately,  and  language  seems 
hardly  strong  enough  to  express  the  admiration  they  both 
felt  for  his  character.  '  That  most  dear  and  exemplary 
saint ;  '  'a  bright  example  and  a  public  good ;  '  '  as  for 

1  A  learned  nonjuror,  author  of  Vita  quorundam  Eruditissimorum  et 
Illustrium  Virorum  '  (Usher,  Cosin,  &c.),  Account  of  the  Greek  Church,  &c. 

'*  See  Life  of  Ken,  by  a  Layman,  ii.  619.  3  Ibid. 

4  Life  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Rowe,  daughter  of  Mr.  Walter  Singer,  the 
worthy  nonconformist  referred  to  in  the  text. 


124          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

religion,  that  was  the  height  of  all  his  aims  and  the  most 
open  of  all  his  professions ; '  '  a  sincere  and  zealous  son  of 
the  Church  of  England,  in  whose  communion  he  lived  and 
died  ;  '  such  is  the  testimony  of  Kettle  well.1  '  That  excel 
lent  lord,  a  Luminous  Star  no  doubt  now  in  Heaven,  for 
few  had  his  equals  for  good  sense  and  solid  piety  whilst  on 
earth,'  such  is  the  testimony  of  Bray.2  The  known  facts  of 
Lord  Digby's  life  fully  bear  out  this  testimony.  He  died  at 
a  comparatively  early  age,  and  on  his  death-bed  recom 
mended  to  his  brother  and  successor,  William,  Lord  Digby, 
the  carrying  out  of  the  good  works  which  he  had  begun. 
The  exhortation  was  not  given  in  vain.  William  proved  a 
worthy  successor  to  Simon.  It  may  be  added  that  the  two 
brothers  married  two  sisters  who  were  both  worthy  of  such 
husbands. 

Among  the  eminent  laymen  of  our  period  none  held 
higher  positions  than  the  two  Earls  of  Nottingham,  father 
and  son.  The  former,  strictly  speaking,  belongs  to  the 
Eestoration  period,  but  as  the  two  bore  a  striking  resem 
blance  to  one  another,  and  were  linked  together  as  church 
men  by  their  connection  with  one  spiritual  adviser,  it  will 
be  convenient  to  take  them  together.  Heneage  Finch 
(1621-1682)  passed  from  one  legal  honour  to  another  until 
he  became  Lord  Chancellor.  He  won  the  very  highest  repu 
tation  as  a  lawyer  and  an  orator,3  but  he  was  equally  dis- 

1  See  Kettle-well's  Life,  passim.  2  See  Bray's  Life  of  Paiclct. 

3  He  was  the  '  Omri '  of  Dryclen's  Absalom  and  Achitoplicl,  and  is  thus 
described : 

Sincere  was  Omri,  and  not  only  knew, 
But  Israel's  sanctions  into  practice  drew ; 
Our  laws  that  did  a  boundless  ocean  seem, 
Were  coasted  all,  and  fathom'd  all  by  him. 
No  Rabbin  speaks  like  him  their  mystic  sense, 
So  just,  and  with  such  charms  of  eloquence  ; 
To  whom  the  double  blessing  does  belong, 
With  Moses'  inspiration,  Aaron's  tongue. 

Lord   Campbell  says,   '  All   juridical  writers   worship  him   as  the  first  of 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  125 

tinguislied  as  a  staunch  and  conscientious  churchman, 
whose  spotless  morals  and  unimpeached  integrity  shed  a 
lustre  upon  the  Church  which  he  loved  so  well  and  served 
so  faithfully.  In  the  distribution  of  Church  patronage  his 
services  were  very  great.  With  a  lawyer's  discernment  of 
character  he  perceived  the  peculiar  fitness  of  his  chaplain 
(then  comparatively  unknown),  for  advising  him  upon  such 
matters,  and  therefore  '  he  charged  it  upon  his  conscience 
to  recommend  him '  the  best  man  for  each  post  as  it  became 
vacant.  This  was  a  serious  responsibility  for  a  young  man, 
but  when  it  is  added  that  the  young  man  was  John  Sharp, 
afterwards  Archbishop  of  York,  it  will  cause  no  wonder  that 
the  result  was  eminently  satisfactory.  Among  others  whom 
he  drew  from  obscurity  was  George  Bull,  whose  biographer, 
Robert  Nelson,  pays  a  graceful  and  well-deserved  tribute 
both  to  the  Chancellor  and  his  chaplain.1  He  also  strove, 
but  in  vain,  to- draw  into  public  life  the  saintly  Henry  More.2 
He  wisely  made  residence  on  their  benefices  a  condition  of 
every  preferment.3  In  1681  he  was  created  Earl  of  Not 
tingham,  and  in  the  following  year  he  died,  to  the  great  loss 
of  the  Church,  but  happily 

Uno  avulso,  non  deficit  alter 
Aureus. 

Daniel  Finch,  the  second  earl,  was  as  staunch  a  church 
man  and  lived  as  blameless  a  life  as  his  father,  whose 
spiritual  adviser,  John  Sharp,  he  wisely  adopted  as  his  own. 
Both  father  and  son  were  remarkable  for  a  gravity  of 
demeanour  which  provoked  the  anger  and  ridicule  of  the 
wild  wits  about  Court  among  whom  they  were  thrown. 
The  son  especially  was  so  austere,  that  though  he  was  a 

lawyers,'  and  quotes  many  proofs  of  this.  (Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancellors, 
iv.  p.  309,  &c.) 

1  See  Life  of  Butt,  pp.  155-8. 

2  '  A  noble  person  '  (Nottingham)  said  to  More,  '  Pray  be  not  so  morose  or 
humoursome  as  to  refuse  all  things  you  have  not  known  as  long  as  Christ's 
College.'     (Ward's  Life  of  More,  published  1710,  p.  58.) 

3  Carwithen's  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  iii.  p.  160. 


126          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

High  Churchman  both  in  the  political  and  the  spiritual 
sense,  he  reminded  the  royalists  of  the  hated  puritans. 
But  even  those  who  affected  to  laugh  at  his  preciseness 
could  not  help  respecting  the  spotless  integrity  of  his  cha 
racter.  His  influence  was  enormous ;  he  is  said  to  have 
done  more  to  reconcile  churchmen  to  the  Revolution  than 
any  other  man  ;  ]  and  yet,  after  all,  he  only  half  threw  the 
weight  of  his  vast  influence  into  the  scale  of  the  new 
dynasty,  for  he  could  only  he  brought  to  acknowledge 
William  as  king  '  de  facto.'  He  professed  his  readiness  to 
serve  his  majesty  faithfully, — and  whatever  Nottingham 
professed  he  always  meant, — but  he  would  never  call  him 
the  '  rightful  and  lawful  king.'  His  position  of  course 
brought  him  into  close  contact  with  the  political  side  of 
Church  history,  and  here  some  of  his  acts  were  very 
questionable,  but  in  judging  him  we  must  again  beware  of 
the  fallacy  of  judging  men  of  the  seventeenth  by  the  stan 
dard  of  the  nineteenth  century.  He  refused  the  high  office 
which  his  father  had  held,  but  his  influence  was  at  least  as 
powerful  and  extensive  as  that  of  the  great  Chancellor.  It 
was  not  until  after  the  period  which  this  work  embraces 
that  his  love  of  the  Church  led  him  to  enter  into  the  lists 
as  its  defender  in  the  Trinitarian  controversy, — much  to 
the  dismay  of  Dr.  Waterland,  who  of  course  understood  the 
whole  subject  thoroughly,  and  could  by  no  means  join  in  the 
gratitude  with  which  his  University  (Cambridge)  welcomed 
this  august  champion  of  the  faith.2 

As  we  are  in  high  company  it  will  be  as  well,  before  we 
descend  to  the  commonalty,  to  notice  two  more  noblemen 
who  were  noted  churchmen  in  their  way,  the  two  brothers 
jjyde^—  Henry,  the  elder,  Earl  of  Clarendon,  and  Laurence, 
the  younger,  Earl  of  Rochester.  The  second  Earl  of 
Clarendon  was  not  equal  to  his  father,  the  famous  Chan- 

1  See    Leopold   von   Ranke's   History   of  England,  principally  in  the 
Seventeenth  Century,  iv.  p.  566,  and  v.  p.  342. 

2  See  Waterland's  Works,  i.  pp.  71,  235,  &c.,  and  ii.  pp.  379  80,  &c. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  127 

cellor,  but  he  was  an  able  man.  With  his  public  life  we 
are  not  concerned  except  so  far  as  his  very  conscientious 
distribution  of  patronage,  when  he  was  Viceroy  of  Ireland, 
was  of  great  service  to  the  Church  in  that  island.  With 
regard  to  his  private  life,  he  was  evidently  a  man  with 
a  strong  sense  of  religion.  His  diary  proves  that.  He 
cultivated  the  friendship  of  pious  people  like  Dr.  Horneck, 
Mr.  Charles  Leslie  (who  delighted,  his  biographer  tells  us, 
in  Lord  Clarendon's  society,  and  acted  as  his  chaplain),1 
Bishop  Moore  of  Norwich,  and  Lady  Eanelagh ;  he  was 
a  regular  attendant  at  public  worship,  and  if  he  cannot  be 
held  as  a  saint,  at  any  rate  he  had  a  very  humble  opinion 
of  his  own  spiritual  state. 

The  younger  brother,  Laurence,  Earl  of  Rochester,  was 
a  more  famous,  and  perhaps  an  abler  man.  A  random  ex 
pression  of  Roger  North  to  the  effect  that  '  he  swore  like  a 
sutler  and  indulged  in  drinking,  but  was  the  head  of  the 
Church  party,'  has  been  accepted  far  too  implicitly.  North 
had  a  personal  animosity  against  him,  and  one  would  have 
liked  to  see  the  description  confirmed  by  less  prejudiced 
testimony.2  Certainly  his  own  diary  and  correspondence 
convey  a  very  different  impression.  There  are  few  things 
more  touching  than  his  reflections  on  the  death  of  his 
daughter,  in  which  he  frankly  confesses  his  own  shortcom 
ings,  but  in  the  spirit  of  one  who  is  really  desirous  of  leading 
a  better  life.  Of  his  sincere  attachment  to  the  Church 
there  can  be  no  doubt ;  for  her  sake  he  sacrificed  all  his 
ambitious  hopes,  and  his  consistent  regard  for  her  interests 
should  at  least  cause  his  memory  to  be  tenderly  dealt  with 
by  churchmen.3 

1  See  Life  of  Charles  Leslie,  by  Rev.  B.  J.  Leslie. 

2  Barillon's  testimony  is  still  less  trustworthy,  seeing  that  the  Earl  of 
Rochester  was  one  of  the  chief  hindrances  towards  his  carrying  out  his 
plans  with  Rochester's  royal  kinsman,  for  which  every  Englishman,  and 
especially  every  English  churchman,  should  be  grateful  to  the  earl. 

3  See  the  Correspondence  of  Henry  Hyde,  Earl  of  Clarendon,  and  of  his 
brother,  Laurence  Hyde,  Earl  of  Rochester,  with  the  Diaries  of  both,  edited 
by  W.  E.  Singer,  1828. 


128          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CIICRCII,    1660-1714 

Robert  Nelson  (1656-171*)  has  been  so  frequently  and 
so  lately  portrayed,1  that  there  is  no  need  to  record  how, 
as  the  son  of  a  rich  merchant  he  was  brought  up  in 
affluence,  how  he  received  his  training  in  church  principles 
from  Mr.  Bull,  how  he  married  the  Lady  Theophila  Lucy, 
who,  to  his  great  grief,  became  a  Romanist,  how  he  took 
part  in  every  good  scheme,  originating  many  and  suggesting 
more,  how  stirringly  he  appealed  to  the  gentry  to  help  in 
works  of  piety  and  charity,2  how  he  became  a  nonjuror, 
and  how  he  returned  to  the  National  Church.  His  cha 
racter  was  admired  by  men  of  all  shades  of  opinion.  We 
are  of  course  not  surprised  to  hear  of  Kettlewell's  admira 
tion,3  nor  of  Hickes  '  esteeming  the  honour  of  his  friend 
ship  one  of  the  providential  blessings  of  his  life,'  nor  of 
Francis  Lee  describing  him  as  '  a  gentleman  of  that  dis 
tinguished  merit,  as  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  he 
has  left  his  fellow  behind  him  in  this  great  island.'  But 
Tillotson  also  retained  his  friendship  to  the  very  last,  and 
actually  died  in  his  arms  ;  Tenison  spoke  of  him  as  '  a 
good  and  holy  man  now  with  God,'4  Swift,  who  writes  with 
the  bitterest  contempt  of  the  nonjurors  as  a  body,5  calls  him 
'  a  very  pious,  learned,  and  worthy  gentleman ;  '  Hearne, 
though  he  was  deeply  indignant  at  his  return  to  the 
National  Church,  yet,  in  the  very  same  breath  in  which  he 
expresses  his  indignation,  calls  him  'a  pious,  good  man,'6 
and  on  the  occasion  of  his  death,  '  a  very  learned,  religious, 
and  pious  gentleman,' 7  and  many  others  might  be  quoted.8 

1  See  Secrctan's  most  interesting  Life  of  Robert  Nelson;  Teale's  Lives 
of  British  Laymen;  and  Mr.  Abbey's  chapter  on  ' Bobert  Nelson  and  his 
Friends,'  in  The  English  Church  in  the  Eighteenth  Century. 

'2  See  Ways  and  Means  of  Doing  Good;  an  Address  to  Persons  of 
Quality,  &c. 

See  Life  of  Kettlewell. 

See  Life  of  T.  Tenison,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

See  Sentiments  of  a  Church  of  England  Man,  p.  275. 

Diary,  iii.  116.  •  Diary  for  January  23,  171 4. 

Dr.  Wells  (Rich  Man's  Duty,  &c.)  says  :  '  A  bishop  wrote  to  me,  Mr. 
Nelson's  death  is  a  loss,  to  everyone  who  had  the  happiness  to  know  him, 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  129 

Is  it  attributing  too  much  weight  to  what  some  may  think 
a  matter  of  secondary  importance,  to  suggest  that  one 
reason  why  Nelson  was  so  universally  esteemed  was  that 
he  was  a  thorough  gentleman,  not  only  in  the  conventional, 
but  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  term  ?  -  Some  verses  at 
tached  to  his  portrait,  though  not  remarkable  for  poetical 
merit,  bring  out  this  point  so  truly  and  clearly  that  they 
are  worth  quoting  : 

Such  were  the  lines ;  such  majesty  and  grace 
Chose  to  erect  their  throne  in  Nelson's  face. 
Where'er  that  pleasing  form  did  once  appear 
The  world  confess'd — The  Christian  hero's  here. 

To  others  mild,  as  to  himself  severe ; 

Polish'd  though  learn'd ;  obliging,  yet  sincere  ; 

Justly  with  admiration  seen  and  read ; 

For  all  must  own  the  Christian  was  well  bred,  &c.,  &C.1 

Dr.  Johnson  affirms  that  Eichardson  took  Nelson  as  the 
model  for  his  Sir  Charles  Grandison  ;  if  this  were  so,  all  one 
can  say  is  that  the  real  man  was  a  higher  type  of  gentleman 
than  the  fancy  portrait.  Nor  must  we  omit  another  trait 
in  Nelson's  character,  which,  no  doubt,  also  contributed 
to  his  universal  popularity.  He  possessed  in  an  eminent 
degree,  that  very  rare  quality,  common  sense.  In  this 
respect  Nelson  was,  among  laymen,  what  Archbishop  Sharp 
was  among  clergymen ;  and  in  this  respect  he  presents  a 
striking  contrast  to  another  good  layman  whose  name  is,  for 
many  reasons,  naturally  associated  with  his,  Henry  Dodwell 
(1641-1711).  Both  these  good  men  held,  broadly  speaking, 

irreparable  ;  and  to  the  Church  of  God  such  an  one  as  I  doubt  will  be 
sensibly  felt,  unless  God  in  his  great  goodness  shall  be  pleased  to  raise  up 
some  person  of  the  like  heroical  piety  in  his  room  ;  but  such  a  blessing  I 
cannot  natter  myself  with  the  hopes  of  living  to  see  in  my  days.'  See  also 
Noble's  Biographical  History  of  England  (Continuation  of  Granger),!,  p.  262, 
Birch's  Life  of  Tillotson,  &c. 

1  The  verses  are  attached  to  the  3rd  edition  (1716)  of  Nelson's  Practice 
of  True  Devotion,  and  signed  '  T.  W.'  Query  :  Is  not  this  a  misprint  for 
'  S.  W.,'  that  is,  Samuel  Wesley? 

K 


130          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

the  same  opinions  on  religion  and  politics  ;  they  had  many 
friends  in  common,  and  they  frequently  met  in  the  same 
house ;  both  became  nonjurors,  and  both  returned  to  the 
National  Church  on  the  same  day  ;  both  were  men  of  un 
blemished  moral  character,  of  great  Christian  earnestness, 
and  of  staunch  Church  principles.  But  the  points  of  contrast 
between  them  were  more  marked  than  those  of  resemblance. 
Dodwell  was  incomparably  the  more  learned  man  of  the 
two  ;  he  had  also  more  originality,  not  only  of  genius  but 
of  character ;  we  can  picture  to  ourselves  the  man  Dodwell 
more  completely  than  the  man  Nelson.  On  the  other  hand, 
that  good  sense  and  that  good  judgment  which  were  so 
eminently  characteristic  of  Nelson,  were  conspicuous  by 
their  absence  in  Dodwell,  who  was  at  least  as  embarrassing 
to  his  friends  as  to  his  foes  ;  in  spite  of  the  vast  learning 
which  he  brought  to  support  their  cause,  they  must  always 
have  trembled  to  think  what  Dodwell  might  write  or 
say  next;  whereas  Nelson's  support,  if  less  striking,  was 
sure  to  be  unobjectionable.  To  complete  the  contrast,  the 
outward  appearance  of  the  two  men  differed  as  widely  as 
their  minds.  Nelson,  to  judge  from  his  portrait,  was 
made  in  a  large  mould,  scrupulously  neat  in  his  dress, 
courtly  and  dignified  in  his  manner,  the  very  pink  of  pro 
priety ; — in  short  a  Sir  Charles  Grandison  in  real  life. 
Dodwell  was  of  small  stature,  very  negligent  about  his  dress, 
eccentric  both  in  thought  and  expression,  and  utterly  re 
gardless  of  appearances.  He  was  born  at  Dublin  and 
educated  at  Trinity  College,  of  which  he  was  elected  fellow. 
But  he  soon  resigned  his  fellowship,  either  because  he 
succeeded  to  a  property,  and  thought  that  he  ought  to 
make  room  for  a  poorer  man,  or  because  he  was  unwilling  to 
take  Holy  Orders,  partly  as  deeming  himself  unworthy,  and 
partly  as  thinking  he  would  be  a  more  disinterested  champion 
of  the  Christian  religion  and  of  the  Christian  priesthood 
as  a  layman.1  He  settled  in  England,  living  sometimes  in 

1  See  Brokesby's  Life  of  Dodwell,  pp.  24-5,  and  Reliiuia  Hearniana, 
vol.  i.  p.  235 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  131 

London  and  sometimes  at  Oxford.     In  1688  he  was  elected 
Camden  Professor  of  History  at  Oxford,  but  was  forced  to 
resign  his  professorship  because  he  would   not   take  the 
oaths.     Henceforth  he  lived  in  studious  retirement  in  Berk 
shire,  first  at  Cookham  and  then  at  Shottesbrooke,  being 
attracted  to  the  latter  place  by  the  fact  that  his  friend 
Mr.  Cherry  lived  there.     The  group  at  Shottesbrooke  has 
a  peculiar  interest  for  the  student  of  Church  life  at  this 
period.      It   included,    besides    Dodwell,    Francis    Cherry, 
Francis  Brokesby,  Thomas  Hearne,  and  White  Kennet,  all 
of  whom  have  been,  or  will  be  noticed.    Of  course  with  White 
Kennet  (the  complying  rector)  Dodwell  was  not  on  the  best 
of  terms,1  but  by  the  rest  of  the  Shottesbrooke  party  he  was 
most  highly  valued.     Cherry  calls  him  '  his  best  and  dearest 
friend,' 2  Brokesby  can  hardly  find  strong  enough  language 
to  express  his  admiration  of  his  vast  and  varied  learning, 
his  humility,  charity,  and  self-denial,3  and  Hearne  declares 
that  though  he  was  the  greatest  scholar  in  Europe,  he  was 
humble  and  modest  to  a  fault,  and  frequently  refers  to  him 
as  '  that  great  and  good  man.' 4     In  fact,  with  all  the  non- 
jurors,    Dodwell,    owing    to    his   vast   learning   and   high 
personal  character,  was  a  great  authority.     The  contem 
porary  author  of  Bishop  Frampton's  Life  calls  him  '  that 
great  lay  dictator,' 5  and  Edmund  Calamy  who,  in  spite  of 
their  very  different   opinions,  was  intimate  with   him   at 
Oxford,  complains  that '  he  would  not  brook  contradiction;  '6 
but  Hearne' s  and  Brokesby 's  testimony  shew  that  he  left 
a  different   impression   upon  those   who  knew   him   best. 

1  There  is  an  interesting  letter  among  the  Kennet  MSS.  in  the  British 
Museum  (to  which  my  attention  was  kindly  directed  by  Dr.  Garnett,  the 
head-librarian),   in  which  Dr.  Kennet  complains  of  Dodwell's  preventing 
people  from  attending  the  parish  church. 

2  See  Letters  from  the  Bodleian,  ed.  by  Bliss.     Letter  to  Hearne,  April 
28,  1713. 

3  See  Brokesby's  Life,  passim. 

4  See  Life  of  Mr.  Thomas  Hearne,  from  his  own  MS.  (1772), passim,  and 
Rcliquia  Hearniance. 

5  P.  203.  e  Calamy 's  Account  of  My  Own  Life,  i.  282. 

K  2 


132          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Dodwell  always  had  clerical  tastes ;  he  loved  to  accompany 
Bishop  Lloyd  on  his  visitation  tours ;  l  and  when  he  lived 
at  Shottesbrooke,  he  regularly  attended  the  clerical  meetings 
at  Marlow,  where  the  clergy  much  enjoyed  his  learned 
conversation,  though  they  were  often  startled  by  his  eccen 
tricities. 

His  friend  Francis  Cherry  (1668-1715)  was  an  admirable 
specimen  of  a  class  which  has,  happily,  always  nourished  in 
England,  the  class  of  pious,  cultivated  country  gentlemen. 
Hearne  calls  him  '  a  very  learned  man,  and,  which  is  much 
more,  a  very  pious,  religious,  modest,  and  humble  man.' 
But  we  are  not  to  gather  from  this  that  he  was  *  learned  '  in 
the  same  sense  that  Dodwell  was.  He  was  simply  an  in 
telligent,  well-educated  gentleman ;  a  first-rate  horseman 
and  devotedly  attached  to  hunting,  but  not  a  mere  Nimrod  ; 
he  took  a  great  interest  in  books  and  the  conversation  of 
learned  men,  and  was  himself  something  of  a  virtuoso.  He 
was  a  staunch  churchman,  and  a  most  liberal  friend  to 
churchmen  in  distress.  Shottesbrooke  Park,  his  residence, 
was  a  perfect  harbour  of  refuge  for  the  nonjurors.  But 
though  he  was  a  nonjuror  himself,  he  deeply  deplored  the 
schism,  and  it  was  a  real  satisfaction  to  him  when  he  could 
return  conscientiously  to  his  parish  church.  He  has  left 
us  one  of  the  clearest  and  most  satisfactory  accounts  which 
we  possess  of  the  reasons  which  led  men  like  Nelson, 
Dodwell,  and  himself  to  stand  aloof  from  the  National  Church 
until  the  canonical  rights  of  the  deprived  bishops  had  lapsed. 
It  is  a  credit  to  the  taste  of  the  county  that  he  was  so 
popular  in  it  as  to  be  called  '  the  idol  of  Berkshire.'  His 
love  of  sport  brought  him  frequently  into  contact  with 
royalty,  and  several  anecdotes  are  told  of  him  in  this  con 
nection  which  are  very  characteristic  of  the  man,  but  hardly 
belong  to  the  subject  of  '  Church  life.'  Among  other  acts 
of  kindness,  Mr.  Cherry  entirely  educated  Thomas  Hearne, 
to  whose  Diary  we  are  most  deeply  indebted  for  information 

1  Brokesby's  Life,  p.  39. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  133 

about  the  Church  life  of  the  period,  though  his  own  life 
scarcely  comes  within  the  range  of  our  subject. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  another,  and  by  far  the  most 
interesting  and  vivid  of  all  the  diarists  of  the  period,  Samuel 
Pepys.     As  a  picture  of  the  times  from  a  certain  point  of 
view,  Pepys'  Diary  is  unique.   But  it  is  far  too  often  forgotten 
what  that  point  of  view  was.     It  was  that  of  quite  a  young 
man  who  set  down  all  his  private  thoughts,  prepossessions, 
and  prejudices,  without  the  least  idea  that  they  would  ever 
be  published.     The  Diary  is  not  even  a  fair  and  adequate 
representation  of  Pepys'  own  character,  for  there  is  little 
doubt  that  he  changed  greatly  for  the  better  in  his  later 
years,  perhaps  under  the  influence  of  his  brother  diarist, 
Evelyn,  whom  he  highly  respected.     Still  less  can  the  im 
mortal  Diary  be  regarded  as  an  adequate  authority  on  other 
matters,  and  especially  on  the  matter  of  Church  life.    Pepys 
makes  no  secret  of  his  dislike  of  the  clergy,  and  it  is  simply 
absurd  to  repeat  gravely  as  undoubted  facts  little  scandals 
about  them  which  really  rest  upon  his  authority  alone.    Take 
the  Diary  for  what  it  is,  that  is,  as  the  hastily  jotted  down 
impressions  of  a  rather  lax  young  man,  and  it  is  delightful 
and  invaluable ;  but  take  it  as  a  grave  historical  authority, 
and  it  is,  on  the  face  of  it,   most  misleading.      It  is  an 
admirable  picture  of  Pepys  between  the  ages  of  twenty-seven 
and  thirty-seven,  but  Pepys  between  the  ages  of  twenty-seven 
and  thirty-seven  can  hardly  pose  as  a  pious  lay  churchman  ; 
therefore  nothing  more  need  be  said  about  him,  except  that 
the  writer  of  such  a  book  as  the  present  owes  him  both  a 
debt  and  also  a  grudge. 

The  name  of  Pepys  naturally  suggests  that  of  another 
diarist,  Ralph  Thoresby.  Thoresby's  Diary  cannot  of  course 
compare  for  a  moment  with  that  of  Pepys  in  point  of 
naturalness,  vividness,  and  general  interest,  but,  from 
the  point  of  view  of  this  work,  it  has  a  peculiar  value  as 
shewing  the  process  by  which  a  strictly  conscientious 
nonconformist  became  a  strictly  conscientious  churchman. 


134          LIFE    IN    TIIE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

Thoresby's  nonconformity  was  hereditary,  his  father,  for 
whom  he  entertained  a  great  respect,  having  been  a  Pres 
byterian.     The  Thoresbys  were  a  very  good  old  family,  and 
are  said  to  have  been  able  to  trace  back  their  pedigree  to 
Canute.     The  Diary  commences  in  1677  and  ends  in  1724, 
and  thus  deals  with  a  later  period  than  Pepys'.    All  through 
the  period  Thoresby  seems  to  have  attended  the  church 
services  at  Leeds,  as  well  as  at  his  own  place.     In  1685, 
when  the  fear  of  Eomanism  was  reaching  its  height,  he  was 
drawn  more  closely  to  the  Church  as  the  strongest  bulwark 
against  Popery.1     The  very  high  regard  in  which  he  held 
the  private   and   the   public   characters  of  two  successive 
vicars  of  Leeds,  Dr.  Milner  and  Mr.  Killingbeck,  still  further 
attached  him  to  our  communion.2     A  lay  churchman,  Mr. 
Thornton,  who  was  his  personal  friend,  helped  on  the  work. 
And  finally,  in  1697,  a  visit  to  Leeds  of  Archbishop  Sharp, 
whose  character  and  preaching  he  had  already  learned  to 
admire  enthusiastically,3   completed   it.      He   refers   with 
delight  to  the  Archbishop's  '  incomparable  sermon '  and  the 
crowded  congregation  ;  and  the  next  day  when  '  his  Grace 
was  pleased  to  honour  me  with  a  visit,  attended  by  my  dear 
friend  Mr.  Thornton,  and  most  of  the  clergy,'  the  deed  was 
done.4     The  not  unnatural  remonstrances  of  his  old  non- 
conforming  minister  were  all  unavailing.      Henceforth  he 
was  a  most  consistent  and  staunch  churchman  ;  he  made 
the  acquaintance  of  such  men  as  Dr.  Hickes,  Mr.  Nelson, 
Mr.  Hearne,  and  Mr.  Wanley,  and,  in  fact,  went  rather  too 

1  '  I   joined   more   constantly   in    the  public   prayers  and  worship,  as 
judging  the  Church  of   England   the  strongest   bulwark  against  Popery.' 
(Diary,  i.  p.  182.) 

2  See  Diary,  i.  p.  194. 

3  '  July  4,  1692. — Had  a  sight  of  the  best  of  bishops  that  ever  honoured 
this  town  with  their   presence   in   my   time,    Archbishop    Sharp,    a   most 
excellent  preacher,  universally  beloved.'     (Diary,  i.  p.  224.)     'August  1, 
1695.  -At  Bishop  Thorp ;  cannot  but  admire  the  learning,  piety,  moderation, 
and  ingenuity  of  the  Archbishop,  and  his  chaplain,  Mr.   Pearson.'      (Id. 
309. 

4  Diary,  i.  p.  313. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD.  135 

far  to  meet  the  approbation  of  the  Low  Churchmen.1  His 
life  was  so  blameless  that  we  can  well  understand  the 
pleasure  with  which  he  was  welcomed  by  churchmen.  His 
friend  the  Archbishop  suggested  that  he  should  seek  Holy 
Orders,  but  he  preferred  working  for  the  Church,  to  which 
he  henceforth  devoted  most  of  his  time,  as  a  faithful  lay 
man. 

Another  excellent  layman  who,  like  Thoresby,  was  in 
vited  to  seek  Holy  Orders,  was  James  Bonnell  (1653-1699). 
But,  unlike  Thoresby,  he  was  from  first  to  last  a  staunch 
churchman.  Having  taken  his  degree  at  S.  Catherine's 
Hall,  Cambridge,  he  became  tutor  in  the  family  of  a  Mr. 
Freeman,  who  offered  to  purchase  him  a  living  if  he  would 
take  Orders,  as  he  desired  to  do.  But  the  offer  deterred 
rather  than  quickened  his  ardour  to  become  a  clergyman, 
for  '  he  reckoned  it  a  great  unhappiness  to  the  Church  that 
interest  had  any  share  in  the  disposal  of  spiritual  things.' 2 
He  spent  the  last  fifteen  years  of  his  short  life  at  Dublin  in 
the  responsible  office  of  '  Accomptant-General  of  Ireland,' 
which  his  father  held  before  him,  living  as  a  most  exemplary 
and  energetic  lay  churchman,  taking  the  deepest  interest  in 
the  Keligious  Societies  and  other  good  works  which  then 
flourished  at  Dublin.  'Would  we,'  writes  his  biographer,3 
'  behold  a  Church  of  England  man  who  has  all  the  accom 
plishments  she  can  give  him ;  who  has  fully  imbib'd  her 
doctrine,  and  gives  himself  up  to  the  conduct  of  her  laws, 
who  joyns  daily  in  her  devotions,  who  partakes  of  her 
extensive  charity  and  is  acted  by  her  primitive  spirit ;  who 
honours  her  laws,  and  lives  up  to  her  precepts  ?  Consider 
Mr.  Bonnell  well,  and  it  is  he.'  Funeral  sermons  are  not  as 
a  rule  to  be  taken  quite  literally,  but  there  is  a  ring  about 
the  praise  of  the  Bishop  of  Killmore  and  Ardagh,  who 

1  Bishop  Burnet  severely  rebuked   him  for  becoming   '  a   rank   Tory.' 
(Diary,  ii.  235.) 

2  Life  and  Character  of  James  Bonnell,  Esq.,  by  W.  Hamilton,  Arch 
deacon  of  Armagh. 

*  Id.  p.  244. 


136          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

preached  Bonnell's  funeral  sermon,  which  sounds  genuine, 
and  he  wisely  fortifies  his  statements  by  quoting  several 
unimpeachable  testimonies  to  Bonnell's  excellence.  '  I  sin 
cerely  profess,'  he  writes,  '  I  know  not  where,  in  the  present 
age,  to  meet  with,  every  way,  the  like  man.  In  a  word, 
a  person  so  accomplisht  for  the  public  employments  he 
sustained,  yet  no  less  accurate  in  his  duties  to  God,  his 
neighbour,  and  himself,  I  fear  scarce  any  age  can  shew.' 

There  were  many  other  laymen  of  whom  the  Church  of 
our  period  may  well  be  proud,  but  who,  for  one  reason  or 
another,  can  only  be  touched  upon  very  briefly.  There  is 
Joseph  Addison,  the  '  parson  in  the  tye-wig.'  The  greatest 
literary  man  of  his  day  was,  both  by  training  and  con 
viction,  a  staunch  adherent  of  the  Church  of  England. 
There  is  Sir  Richard  Blackmore,  who  from  a  literary  point  of 
view  stands  at  the  opposite  pole  from  Addison ;  but  in  the 
language  of  his  great  biographer,1  '  as  the  poet  sinks  the 
man  rises.'  Kettle  well's  biographer  describes  him  as  '  a 
gentleman  who  in  his  zeal  for  the  service  of  Eeligion  and 
for  Eeformation  of  manners  and  principles  hath  not  been 
surpassed  by  any  of  his  profession.' 2  In  fact,  the  rhyming 
physician  wrote  his  numerous  and  portentous  epics  ex 
pressly  in  the  service  of  religion.  Whether  they  did  her 
much  service  is  another  question ;  but  his  piety,  if  not  his 
poetry,  is  a  credit  to  that  Church  of  which,  from  first  to 
last,  he  was  a  staunch  member.  There  is  Lord  Maynard, 
Ken's  earliest  patron,  '  a  most  exemplary  nobleman,  who, 
with  his  admirable  wife,  Lady  Margaret,  lived  on  most 
intimate  terms  of  friendship  with  Ken,  and  seconded  all  his 
endeavours  for  the  good  of  his  flock  during  his  two  happy 
years  at  Easton.' 3  There  is  Sir  Edward  Atkins,  the  friend 
and  neighbour  of  Humphrey  Prideaux  at  Saham,  '  a  man 


1  Dr.  Johnson.     See  Lives  of  Poets. 

2  Life  of  Kettlewell,  compiled  from  the  collections  of  Hickes  and  Nelson, 
p.  11. 

3  Miss  Strickland's  Lives  of  the  Seven  Bishops,  &c.,  p.  2-iO. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  137 

of   great  piety,  probity,  and  goodness.'     In  the  reign  of 
James  II.  he  was  Lord  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  and 
'  acquitted  himself    in    that   post  with   great  justice  and 
integrity,  especially  towards  the  clergy,  whom  he  would 
never    suffer   to   be   oppressed,    and   of   whose    rights   he 
was  remarkably  careful  whilst  he  presided  in  that  Court. 
Eefusing  the  oaths,  he  was  excluded  from  all  place,  and 
retired  to  Pickenham,  and  there  lived  quietly,  greatly  re 
spected  by  all  his  neighbours,  to  whom  he  was  very  useful 
in  reconciling  their  differences.   As  his  fame  spread  all  over 
the  country,  people  came  from  great  distances  to  lay  their 
causes  before  him.'  1    He  had  the  honour  of  being  the  early 
patron  and  occasional  benefactor  of   that  model  country 
parson,  Isaac  Milles.2   There  is  Sir  Walter  St.  John,  of  whom 
Bishop  Patrick  speaks   most    highly  both    in   his  '  Auto 
biography  '  and   his   '  Mensa  Mystica.'     There  is  William 
Melmoth  (1666-1743),  the  first  joint-treasurer  of  the  S.P.G., 
an  eminent  barrister,  author  of  a  once  very  popular  devo 
tional  work,3  one  of  the  good  men  who  protested  against 
the  licentiousness  of  the  stage,  a  man  whom  Mr.  Anderson 
estimates  so  highly  as  to  term  him  '  only  second  to  Kobert 
Nelson  in  the  ranks  of  the  lay- members  of  our  Church  at 
this  period.' 4     There  is  Edward  Colston  (1636-1721),  the 
merchant  prince,  whose  memory  is  still  celebrated  annually 
at  Bristol,  and  whose  splendid  charities  shew  that  he  was 
not  only  a  most  benevolent  man,  but  also  that  he  deeply 
valued  the  system  of  that  Church  of  which  he  was  a  sincere 
and  worthy  member.5   There  is  Walter  Chetwynd,  who  at  the 

1  Life  of  Dean  Prideaux  (published  1748),  p.  75. 
"  2  See  Life  of  Rev.  Isaac  Milles,  pp.  45,  46,  70. 

3  The  Great  Importance  of  a   Religious  Life.     It  was  republished  in 
1849,  with  an  interesting  memoir  of  the  author. 

4  History  of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  Colonies,  <£c.,  by  the  Rev. 
J.  S.  M.  Anderson,  ii.  559. 

5  In  1696  he  built  a  schoolmaster's  house  for  forty-four  boys,  who  were 
to  be  clothed  and  instructed  in  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  the  Church 
Catechism.     He  gave  6Z.  a  year  to  the  minister  of  All  Saints',  Bristol,  for 
reading  prayers  every  Monday  and  Tuesday  morning  through  the  year,  in- 


138          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

consecration  of  the  new  church  at  Ingestre,  of  which  he 
was  '  the  pious  and  generous  founder,'  in  1677  '  offered  upon 
the  altar  the  tythes  of  Hopton,  a  village  hard  by,  to  the 
value  of  50/.  per  annum,  as  an  addition  to  the  rectory  for 
ever.'  l  There  is  Mr.  Seymour,  a  rich  goldsmith  and  banker 
of  Lombard  Street,  and  most  actively  zealous  in  encouraging 
every  good  work,  among  other  good  works  building  a 
church  in  Spital  Fields.'2 

It  will  be  observed  that  all  the  laymen  who  have  been 
noticed  belonged  to  the  upper  or  upper-middle  class.  It  is 
much  to  be  regretted  that  no  account  has  been  preserved  of 
any  pious  laymen  of  the  humbler  ranks ;  but  perhaps  such 
oblivion  was  inevitable.  '  The  life,'  writes  Dr.  Johnson, '  that 
passes  in  penury,  must  necessarily  pass  in  obscurity.'3 
Just  as  in  the  epic,  '  the  brave  Gyas  and  the  brave  Cloan- 
thus '  are  names  and  nothing  more,  though  they  may  have 
been  as  gallant  heroes  as  the  Trojan  leader  himself,  so  it 
is  in  the  battle  of  the  faith.  The  piety  of  the  masses  can 
only  be  gathered  from  the  accounts  of  crowded  services  and 
well-attended  Communions,  of  which  something  will  be  said 
in  the  next  chapter. 


(2)    CHURCHWOMEN   OF   THE  PERIOD. 

The  tendencies  of  the  period  embraced  within  the  com 
pass  of  this  work  were  not  favourable  to  the  development 
of  women's  work  in  the  Church.  It  was  not  the  fashion  of 
the  day  for  women  to  occupy  a  prominent  position  in  any 
sphere.  Though  two  out  of  the  five  sovereigns  who  reigned 
in  England  were  women,  it  is  curious  to  observe  how  small 
a  part  women  play  in  the  life  of  the  nation  at  large.  In 

stituted  Lent  lectures,  gave  6,OOOZ.  for  the  augmentation  of  sixty  small 
livings,  gave  liberally  to  the  repair  of  the  Cathedral,  and  towards  seating 
and  beautifying  All  Saints'  Church.  (See  Edward  Colston  the  Philanthropist, 
his  Life  and  Times,  by  T.  Garrard,  1852.) 

1  White  Kennet's  Case  of  Impropriations,  &c.,  p.  308. 

2  See  Memoir  of  Sir  George  Wlieler.  3  Lives  of  the  Poets,  ii.  228. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  139 

none  of  the  Societies  formed  at  this  period  for  missionary, 
devotional,  or  philanthropic  objects,  does  any  woman  occupy 
a  leading  share.  The  only  attempt  to  form  anything  like 
an  organisation  of  women  was,  as  we  shall  see,  promptly 
nipped  in  the  bud.  Headers  of  the  '  Spectator  '  will  re 
member  how  the  two  great  essayists,  the  one  chivalrously, 
the  other  rather  contemptuously,  strive  to  raise  the  status 
of  women,  both  agreeing  that  it  was  not  a  high  one.  The 
low  estimation  in  which  the  intellectual  powers  of  the  sex 
were  held  is  strikingly  brought  before  us  in  connection  with 
the  first  pious  churchwoman  who  demands  our  notice.1 

Dorothy,  Lady  Pakington  (d.  1679),  enjoyed  exceptional 
advantages  all  her  life  long,  both  for  the  improvement  of 
her  mind  and  for  her  advancement  in  the  spiritual  life.  She 
belonged  to  a  family  equally  noted  for  its  moral  and  its  in 
tellectual  eminence,  being  the  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas 
Coventry :  and  she  was  educated  under  the  direction  of  a 
very  learned  man,  Sir  Norton  Knatchbull.  Her  marriage 
with  Sir  John  Pakington  made  Westwood  House  her  home ; 
and  Westwood  House  during  the  Eebellion  was  to  distressed 
royalists  and  churchmen,  what  Shottesbrooke  House  after 
the  Eevolution  was  to  distressed  nonjurors.  At  Westwood, 
Henry  Hammond  found  a  permanent,  and  George  Morley 
a  temporary  hpme.  The  mistress  was  a  friend  of  Fell, 
Gunning,  Henchman,  Pearson,  Thomas,  Dolben,  Allestree, 
—  in  fact  of  the  most  famous  churchmen  of  the  period. 
Hickes  knew  her  well  in  his  early  years,  and  affirms  that 
some  of  the  great  men  mentioned  above  considered  her 
knowledge  of  sacred  literature  and  ethics  of  all  kinds  equal 
to  their  own.2  And  yet  her  sex  was  considered  by  many 
an  insurmountable  a  priori  objection  to  Lady  Pakington's 
authorship  of  the  '  Whole  Duty  of  Man.' 

1  '  In  the  female  world,'  writes  Dr.  Johnson  in  his  Life  of  Addison,  '  any 
acquaintance  with  books  was  distinguished  only  to  be  censured.' 

•  See  Hickes'  preface  to  his  Anglo-Saxon  and  Mceso-Gothic  Grammar, 
inscribed  to  Sir  John  Pakington,  grandson  of  Dorothy,  Lady  Pakington. 


14O  LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

The  Court  of  Charles  II.  is  not  exactly  the  place  where 
one  would  expect  to  find  the  brightest  examples  of  female 
piety;  and  yet  on  that  most  uncongenial  soil  blossomed 
one  of  the  fairest  flowers  that  ever  grew  in  Christ's  garden 
on  earth.  Margaret  Godolphin,  nee  Blagge  (1652-1678), 
was  before  her  marriage  a  maid  of  honour  to  the  ill-used 
Queen  Catherine.  Her  short  but  lovely  life  has  been 
sketched  by  the  sympathising  pen  of  her  devoted  friend, 
John  Evelyn  ;  and  it  would  be  almost  like  sacrilege  to 
describe  it  in  other  than  the  simple  but  most  touching 
language  of  her  biographer ;  but  as  his  little  work  is  easily 
accessible  and  ought  to  be  well  known  to  every  true  church 
man,  it  is  unnecessary  to  quote  it.1  Suffice  it  to  say,  in  the 
language  of  the  accomplished  editor,  '  she  was  a  true 
daughter  of  the  Church  of  England;  Puritanism  did  not 
contract  her  soul  into  moroseness,  nor  did  she  go  to  Eome 
to  learn  the  habits  of  devotion.' 2  She  observed  most 
strictly  all  the  fasts  and  festivals  of  the  Church,  and  in 
fact  formed  her  whole  life,  which  was  a  blameless  and 
Christ-like  life,  on  the  lines  which  our  Church  lays  down. 
Nor  was  Mrs.  Godolphin's  life  the  only  instance. 

Lady  Sylvius,  (nee  Howard)  was  a  maid  of  honour  in  the 
Court  of  Charles  II. ;  and  Evelyn  writes  to  her,  '  When  she 
(Mrs.  Godolphin)  left  Court,  to  your  ladyship  and  your  sister 
she  left  her  pretty  Oratorye,  soe  often  consecrated  with  her 
prayers  and  devotions,  as  to  the  only  successors  of  her 
virtues  and  piety ;  and  as  I  am  persuaded  the  Court  was 
every  day  less  sensible  of  its  losse  whilst  you  both  continued 
in  it,  because  you  trode  in  this  religious  lady's  stepps,  so 
the  piety  it  anywhere  still  retaines  is  accountable  to  your 
rare  example.'3  But  Mrs.  Evelyn  took  a  more  hopeful 
view  than  her  husband.  '  My  wife,'  writes  the  latter,  '  would 

1  See  Life  of  Mrs.  Godolphin,  by  John  Evelyn,  of  Wotton,  Esq.,  now 
first  published,  and  edited  by  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  (Wilberforce),  Pickering 
1847. 

2  Bishop  Wilberforce's  Introduction  to  the  above,  p.  xvii. 
8  Life  of  Mrs.  Godolphin,  p.  GO. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  141 

often  reprove  the  diffidence  I  was  wont  to  express  when  they 
would  sometimes  discourse  of  piety  and  religion,  eminent 
among  the  Court  ladyes.  You  (Lady  Sylvius)  had  indeed 
a  sister  there,  whose  perfections  would  no  longer  suffer  me 
to  continue  altogether  in  this  false  persuasion,  but  to  believe 
there  were  many  saints  in  that  country  I  was  not  much 
inclined  to.' l  Other  contemporary  evidence  bears  out  Mrs. 
Evelyn's  view.  Eoger  North  tells  us  that  when  his  kinsman 
Dr.  John  North  resided  at  King  Charles'  Court,  as  clerk  of  the 
closet,  '  divers  persons,'  especially  ladies,  took  him  for  their 
spiritual  adviser.  And  he  adds,  '  I  have  heard  him  say 
that  for  the  number  of  persons  that  resided  in  the  Court, 
a  place  reputed  a  centre  of  all  vice  and  irreligion,  there 
were  as  many  truly  pious  and  strictly  religious  as  could  be 
found  in  any  other  resort  whatsoever.  And  he  never  saw 
so  much  fervent  devotion,  and  such  frequent  acts  of  piety 
and  charity,  as  his  station  gave  him  occasion  to  observe 
there.' 2  Possibly  this  may  be  rather  highly  coloured  ;  Dr. 
North's  position  would,  naturally  make  him  think  the  best 
he  could  of  his  surroundings.  But  at  any  rate  there  were 
many  ladies  of  as  high  rank  as  those  about  the  Court,  whose 
piety  was  as  conspicuous  as  their  good  breeding.  Such  were 
the  two  sisters,  Lady  Eanelagh,  and  Mary,  Countess  of 
Warwick,  daughters  of  the  Earl  of  Cork,  and  sisters  of  the 
famous  Robert  Boyle,  already  noticed. 

Lady  Ranelagh,  the  elder  sister  (1614-1691),  held  a  promi 
nent  position  before  the  world  for  more  than  fifty  years ;  and 
during  the  whole  of  that  time  '  we  never  see  her  name  but  as 
a  living  principle  of  good,  diffusing  blessings  and  averting 
harms.' 3  She  went  hand  in  hand  in  all  his  good  works 
with  her  brother,  who  lived  with  her  nearly  forty-seven  years. 

1  Id.  p.  28. 

2  '  Life  of  the  Hon.  and  Kev.  Dr.  John  North,'  in  the  Lives   of  the 
Norths,  by  Hon.  Eoger  North,  vol.  iii.  p.  324. 

3  '  Diary  and  Correspondence  of  Dr.  J.  Worthington,'  from  the  Baker 
MSS.,  edited  by  J.  Crossley,  vol.  xiii.  of  the  publications  of  the  Chetham 
Society,  vol.  i.  p.  105,  note. 


142          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

The  second  Earl  of  Clarendon  often  visited  her,  especially 
on  Sunday  afternoons,  for  the  purpose  of  religious  counsel.1 
Indeed  she  seems  to  have  been  a  spiritual  counsellor  to 
many,  preserving  all  the  while  the  utmost  humility  and 
feminine  softness.2  Burnet  affirms  without  exaggeration 
that  '  she  employed  the  whole  of  her  time,  interest,  and 
estate  in  doing  good/  and  that  '  she  had  with  a  vast  reach 
both  of  knowledge  and  apprehension,  an  universal  affability 
and  easiness  of  access,' — with  much  more  to  the  same  effect.3 
The  younger  sister,  Mary,  Countess  of  Warwick  (1625- 
1678),  was  as  eminent  for  her  piety  as  her  brother  and  sister 
were ;  but  it  took  a  somewhat  different  shape,  owing  to  her 
marriage,  at  the  early  age  of  fifteen,  with  the  Earl  of  Warwick. 
This  nobleman  had  a  strong  leaning  towards  Puritanism, 
and  was  a  great  patron  of  Puritan  divines,  whose  porten 
tously  long  sermons  he  was  not  content  with  listening  to, 
but  would  have  repeated  at  home.  The  young  Countess 
quite  entered  into  the  spirit  of  her  new  home.  '  God  was 
pleased,'  she  writes,  '  to  bring  me  by  my  marriage  into  a 
noble,  and,  which  is  more,  a  religious  family ;  where  reli 
gion  was  both  practised  and  encouraged,  and  where  there 
were  daily  many  eminent  and  excellent  divines,  who 
preached  in  the  chapel  most  edifyingly  and  awakeningly 
to  us.' 4  There  was  '  a  famous  household  chaplain,'  Dr. 
Walker,  '  by  whose  ministry,'  she  writes,  '  it  pleased  God  to 
work  exceedingly  upon  me.' 5  She  does  not,  however,  for 
get  to  own  her  previous  obligations  to  '  my  dear  sister 
Eanelagh,  who  did  constantly  before  call  upon  me  to  turn 
to  God,'  and  now  encouraged  her  in  her  new  course  of  life. 
There  was  no  actual  tinge  of  Puritanism  either  in  Lady 

1  See  Henry,  Earl  of  Clarendon's  Diary,  ii.  173,  and  passim. 

2  See  Worthington's  Diary,  ut  supra. 

3  See  Burnet's  Funeral  Sermon  on  Hon.  Robert  Boyle,  appended   to 
Birch's  Life. 

4  Autobiography  of  Mary,   Countess   of  Wanuick,  ed.   by   T.   Crofton 
Croker  (Percy  Society),  p.  15. 

3  Id.  p.  20. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  143 

Ranelagh  or  her  brother  Robert,  though  there  would  be  no 
violent  antagonism  to  it  in  either  of  them  ;  and  moreover, 
the  Countess  of  Warwick  always  professed  herself  a  church- 
woman.  As  her  nonconforming  biographer  ]  honestly  owns, 
'  she  very  inoffensively,  regularly,  and  devoutly  observed  the 
orders  of  the  Church  of  England  in  its  liturgy  and  public 
service,  which  she  failed  not  to  attend  twice  a  day  with 
exemplary  reverence.'  She  attended  the  services  of  the  old 
Church,  Chelsea,  and  often  heard  Morley  preach  there. 
Her  Christian  character  showed  itself,  among  other  ways, 
in  unbounded  liberality.  When  the  Earl  died  and  be 
queathed  to  her  his  property,  it  was  said  (as  anticipating 
how  she  would  employ  it),  that  he  had  left  his  estate  to 
charitable  uses.2  '  Such,'  we  are  told,  '  was  the  fame  of  her 
charity  and  hospitality,  that  it  advanced  the  rent  of  houses 
in  her  neighbourhood,  where  she  was  the  common  arbitress 
of  controversies,  which  she  decided  with  great  sagacity  and 
judgment,  and  prevented  many  lawsuits.'3  Her  diary, 
which  in  MS.  is  of  enormous  length,4  and  of  which  the 
published  part  is  but  a  fraction,  is  simply  a  record  of  her 
religious  experience,  the  only  facts  which  she  notices  besides 
this,  being  the  names  of  the  preachers  she  heard ;  but  it 
may  fairly  be  called  (as  it  has  has  been),  her  ( Auto 
biography,'  for  religious  exercises  really  made  to  a  great 
extent  the  life  of  this  good  woman.  It  would  be  wearisome 
and  unnecessary  to  quote  the  many  testimonies  to  her  excel- 

1  S.  Clarke,  a  nonconformist  who  lost  his  benefice  (S.  Bennet  Fink),  in 
1662,  but  it  would  be  most  incorrect  to  call  him  a  dissenter.  He  expressly 
tells  us  himself,  '  After  the  Black  Act,  &c.,  I  durst  not  separate  from  the 
Church  of  England,  nor  was  satisfied  about  gathering  a  private  Church  out 
of  a  true  Church,  as  I  judge  the  Church  of  England  to  be.'  (Autobiography 
attached  to  Lives  of  Sundry  Eminent  Persons  in  this  Latter  Age,  by  S. 
Clarke.)  There  will,  of  course,  be  nothing  strange  in  this  to  the  well- 
informed  ;  but,  in  spite  of  every  evidence  to  the  contrary,  popular  accounts 
persist  in  confounding  nonconformists  with  dissenters. 

-  See  Life  of  Bishop  Ken,  by  a  Layman,  i.  70. 

3  Granger's  Biographical  History  of  England. 

4  The  manuscript  is  in  the  British  Museum. 


LIFE'  IN    TE-1E    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

lence  which  are  still  extant.1  Let  us  pass  on  to  another 
occasional  worshipper  at  the  old  church,  Chelsea,  under 
Bishop  Morley. 

Lady  Margaret  Maynard  has  been  rescued  from  oblivion 
chiefly  through  her  connection  with  Ken,  whose  pious 
efforts  at  Little  Easton  she  heartily  supported.  Like  Lady 
Warwick  she  has  left  us  a  journal  which  breathes  a  like 
spirit  of  piety,  but  is  that  of  a  more  distinctive  churchwoman 
than  the  former,  as  might  be  expected  from  one  who  had 
sat  at  the  feet  of  Ken,  and  been  deeply  impressed  by  his 
preaching.2  Ken,  in  preaching  her  funeral  sermon,  drew 
a  picture  of  a  most  devoted  churchwoman. 

Lady  Frances  Digby  stood  somewhat  in  the  same  relation 
to  Kettlewell  at  Coleshill  as  Lady  Maynard  did  to  Ken  at 
Easton.  She  died  however  in  her  twenty-third  year,  '  but,' 
says  Kettlewell  in  her  funeral  sermon,  '  in  her  green  years 
she  had  attained  a  maturity  in  goodness.'  Kettlewell  was 
not  the  man  to  say  conventional  nothings,  even  in  a  funeral 
sermon ;  we  may  therefore  fully  believe  all  that  he  says  in 
her  praise.  '  I  freely  confess  to  your  lordship,'  he  says  in  his 
dedication  of  the  sermon  to  the  bereaved  husband,  'that 
my  aim  has  been  to  speak  too  little  for  fear  of  saying  too 
much.  They  who  knew  her  best  will  say  that  this  is  not 
only  a  true,  but  a  modest  character.'3 

The  last  two  ladies  are  known  rather  as  worthy  help 
mates  to  pious  husbands  than  as  having  struck  out  an 
independent  line  of  their  own.  The  same  cannot  be  said 
of  Lady  Elizabeth  Hastings,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of 

1  See,  inter  alia,  the  Funeral  Sermon  by  Dr.  Walker.    Aubrey's  Letters, 
ii.  255,  S.  Clarke  (ut  supra],  &c. 

2  She  writes,  for  instance,  after  having  heard  Ken  preach  on  the  Holy 
Communion  ;  '  When  the  sermon  was  clone,  I  found  my  heart  exceedingly  to 
long  after  this  blessed  feast ;  and  when  I  remembered  the  sufferings  of  our 
Saviour,  I  did  weep  bitterly,  and  with  great  earnestness  begged  of  God  to 
give  me  Christ.     My  heart  was  much  carried  out  to  bless  God,  and  I  had 
then  such  sweet  communion  with  Him,  that  I  could  say  it  was  good  for  me 
to  be  there.' 

••'  Sec  Life  of  Kettlewell,  p.  704  &c. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  145 

Huntingdon,  who  long  survived  the  period  with  which 
this  work  deals,  but  who  was  well  known  for  her  many 
excellences  during  the  latter  part  of  our  period.  She  suc 
ceeded  in  winning  the  deep  respect  and  admiration  of  men 
who  were  by  no  means  inclined  themselves  to  follow  the 
strictness  of  her  life.  Congreve  has  immortalised  her,  in 
rather  bombastic  and  conventional  language,  in  the  42nd 
number  of  the  *  Tatler,'  under  the  singularly  inappropriate 
title  of  the  '  Divine  Aspasia,'  and  Steele  took  up  the  same 
subject  in  the  49th  number,  in  a  far  more  touching  and 
genuine  strain ;  but  both  agree  in  lavishing  upon  her  the 
most  enthusiastic  praise.  But  it  was  not  among  men  like 
Congreve  and  Steele  that  Lady  Betty  Hastings  (as  she  was 
generally  called)  sought  and  found  her  friends.  Being 
early  left  a  widow,  she  settled  at  Ledsham  or  Ledstow  Hall 
in  Yorkshire,  and,  though  still  young  and  beautiful,  retired 
entirely  from  what  is  called  '  society,'  and  devoted  herself 
to  works  of  piety  and  charity.  There  she  enjoyed  the  con 
versation  of  pious  churchmen,  such  as  Archbishop  Sharp, 
Richard  Lucas,  and  Robert  Nelson.  The  latter  applied  to 
her  the  text,  '  Many  daughters  have  done  virtuously,  but 
thou  excellest  them  all ; '  and  Nelson,1  like  Kettlewell,  was  a 
man  who  never  flattered  or  exaggerated.  Ralph  Thoresby 
describes  with  delight  a  visit  he  paid  to  Ledsham  Hall,  when 
he  wras  '  extremely  pleased  with  the  most  agreeable  conver 
sation  of  the  pious  and  excellent  Lady  E.  Hastings.'2  She 
not  only  spent  her  time  and  money  most  lavishly  in  all 
sorts  of  good  works  in  her  own  neighbourhood,  but  was 
ever  ready  to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  schemes  of  piety  and 
benevolence  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  Bishop  Wilson  found 
her  a  most  generous  supporter  in  his  various  good  works 
in  the  Isle  of  Man  ;  3  she  contributed  nobly  to  poor  Dean 
Berkeley's  Bermuda  mission  scheme,4  and  not  only  helped 

1  See  Nelson's  Address  to  Persons  of  Quality.  2  Diary,  ii.  82. 

3  See  Stowell's  Life  of  Wilson,  p.  281,  and  Crultwell's  Life,  p.  18. 

4  500Z.     See  Anderson's  History  of  the  Colonial  Church,  iii.  350. 

L 


146          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Mrs.  Astell  most  liberally  in  her  design  for  a  *  Protestant 
Nunnery,'  but  had  the  moral  courage  to  support  that 
good  lady  when  she  was  suffering  from  most  unmerited 
obloquy.1 

Kachel  Wriothesley,  Lady  Russell  (1636-1713),  was,  like 
LadyE.  Hastings,  for  many  years  a  widow  of  blameless  life, 
and  to  her  widowhood  a  peculiarly  melancholy  interest  is 
attached,  owing  to  the  sad  circumstances  of  her  husband's 
death.  She  was-  the  daughter  of  the  pious  and  high- 
minded  Earl  of  Southampton,  and  married  first  Lord 
Vaughan  ;  after  his  death  she  married  Mr.,  afterwards  Lord 
William  Eussell,  whose  tragic  end  everybody  knows.  As 
wife,  widow,  and  mother,  Lady  Eussell  wras  a  pattern.  Eead 
in  the  light  of  after-events,  few  compositions  are  more 
touching  than  her  letters  to  her  second  husband,  breathing, 
as  they  do,  a  spirit  of  the  most  tender  affection  and  ardent 
piety,2  and  presenting  a  perfect  picture  of  domestic  happi 
ness.  How  that  happiness  was  rudely  shattered  by  the 
execution  of  Lord  William,  how  nobly  Lady  Eussell  behaved 
at  and  after  the  trial,  assisting  her  husband  as  amanuensis, 
and,  after  the  sentence  throwing  herself  at  the  king's  feet 
to  plead  for  him  whom  she  loved  next  to  God,  need  not 
here  be  told.  When  she  was  left  a  second  time  a  widow, 

1  See  infra,  pp.  148-0,  and  Ballard's  British  Ladies,  p.  317.  There  is  a 
very  poor  account,  without  anything  definite  or  interesting  in  it,  of  the  good 
lady,  entitled  An  Historical  Character  relating  to  the  holy  and  exemplary 
Life  of  Lady  E.  Hastings,  by  Thomas  Barnard,  Master  of  the  Free  School 
in  Leeds,  pub.  1742. 

a  The  following  is  a  specimen.  '  God  knows  best  when  we  have  had 
enough  here  ;  what  I  most  earnestly  beg  from  His  mercy  is,  that  we  both 
live  so  as,  whichever  goes  first,  the  other  may  not  sorrow  as  for  one  of  whom 
they  have  no  hope.  Then  let  us  cheerfully  expect  to  be  together  to  a  good 
old  age ;  if  not,  let  us  not  doubt  but  He  will  support  us  under  what  trial  he 
will  inflict.  These  are  necessary  meditations  sometimes,  that  we  may  not  be 
surprised  above  our  strength  by  a  sudden  accident,  being  unprepared.'  (See 
Letters  from  Lady  Russell  to  her  husband,  from  1672  to  1682,  attached  to 
Some  Account  of  the  Life  of  Eachael  Wriothesley,  Lady  Russell,  by  the 
Editor  of  Madame  du  Demand's  Letters.  A  fuller  collection  of  the  Letters 
of  Lady  R.  Russell  has  also  been  published,  3rd  edition,  1792.) 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  147 

she  devoted  herself  to  the  education  of  her  children,  but 
did  not  shut  herself  entirely  out  from  the  world.  As  to  her 
religious  sentiments,  the  influence  of  her  father,  her  second 
husband,  and  her  uncle,  a  French  refugee  named  Kuvigny, 
all  inclined  her  to  greater  liberality  towards  nonconformists 
than  was  usual  among  church-people  of  that  day ;  both 
Tillotson  and  Burnet  (the  best  side  of  whose  character 
comes  out  in  his  relation  to  this  noble  lady)  were  also  her 
friends,  and  would  of  course  influence  her  in  the  same 
direction.  But  personally  she  was  a  staunch  adherent  to 
the  Church  of  England;  her  spiritual  director  was  Dr. 
Fitz william,  a  nonjuror  who  had  been  chaplain  to  the  Earl 
of  Southampton,  and  retained  through  life  the  closest 
intimacy  with  his  children,  especially  Lady  Eussell.  His 
letters  to  her  are  written  in  a  tone  of  authority  mingled 
with  deep  affection,  and  her  replies  clearly  imply  that  she 
desired  to  be  guided  by  his  counsel.  During  the  minority 
of  her  son,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  Earldom  of  Bedford, 
great  public  responsibilities  of  course  devolved  upon  her, 
among  other  ways,  in  the  distribution  of  church  patronage, 
and  she  discharged  them  as  she  did  every  duty  of  her  life, 
with  admirable  conscientiousness  and  judiciousness. 

Before  we  descend  to  the  commonalty,  two  more  ladies  of 
rank  deserve  a  passing  notice.  The  Countess  of  Derby,  whose 
memory  is  embalmed  in  a  prayer  written  by  the  saintly 
Bishop  Wilson,1  and  whose  assistance  is  said  to  have  been 
most  valuable  to  him  in  his  attempts,  as  chaplain,  to  reform 
the  household  of  his  generous  but  rather  reckless  patron; 
and  Lady  Conway,  sister  of  the  pious  and  able  Heneage 
Finch,  Earl  of  Nottingham.  To  the  latter,  Dr.  Henry 
More's  heroine  pupil,  a  prominent  place  would  have  to  be 

1  '  Grant  that  we  may  all  follow  her  steps  in  the  way  which  leads  to 
eternal  life.  Let  her  zeal  and  sincerity  encourage  the  good  to  persevere, 
and  her  piety  provoke  the  wicked  to  amend  their  ways,  that  at  last  we  may 
all  meet,  and  become  again  one  family,  in  the  eternal  mansions  which  Thou 
hast  prepared  for  all  that  love  and  fear  Thy  Name.'  (  See  Stowell's  Life  of 
Bishop  Wilson,  p.  28.) 


148          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

given,  if  this  were  a  record  of  all  the  remarkable  women  of 
the  period  who  showed  an  interest  in  religion,  but  as  it  is 
simply  a  sketch  of  pious  chwrchwomen,  no  more  need  be 
said  about  one  who  turned  Quakeress.1 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  Mary  Astell  (1668- 
1731),  a  lady  of  very  remarkable  intelligence,  and  no  less 
remarkable  piety.  She  was  the  daughter  of  a  merchant  at 
Newcastle,  but  was  educated  by  her  uncle,  a  clergyman, 
who,  observing  her  intellectual  aptitude,  devoted  himself 
personally  to  the  cultivation  of  her  mind.  Her  devotional 
works  will  be  noticed  presently,  but  one  of  her  writings  must 
be  mentioned  here  in  connection  with  her  life.  Seeing  and 
lamenting  the  imperfect  education,  and  the  frivolous,  aim 
less  lives  of  many  of  her  sex,  she  published  *  A  Serious 
Proposal  to  Ladies,  &c.'  The  proposal  was  that  a  sort  of 
*  Protestant  Nunnery,'  or,  '  lest  the  word  nunnery  should 
frighten  people,  a  Christian  Retirement  should  be  formed, 
to  which  ladies  who  nauseated  the  world  might  retire,'  to 
improve  their  minds  and  cultivate  the  spiritual  life.  The 
college  was  to  be  conducted  on  strictly  Church  principles, 
and  its  inmates  were  to  enjoy  all  Church  privileges  in  their 
fulness,  but  there  was  not  the  slightest  foundation  for  the 
suspicion,  which  wrecked  it  at  the  outset,  that  it  had  a 
Eomanising  tendency.'2  A  '  great  lady,'  supposed  by  some 
to  be  the  Princess  of  Denmark,  afterwards  Queen  Anne,  by 
others  with  more  probability  to  be  Lady  E.  Hastings,3  was  so 

1  In  the  Rawdon  Papers  there  is  rather  an  amusing  sketch  of  Lady 
Conway's  household,  written  by  her  husband  to  Sir  G-.  Kawdon,  to  dissuade 
him  from  sending  his  daughter,  Lord  Conway's  niece,  to  live  with  them. 
'  In   my  family  all  the  women  about  my  wife,  and  most  of  the  rest,  are 
Quakers,  and  Mons.  Van  Helmont  is  governor  of  that  flock ;  an  unpleasing 
sort  of  people,  silent,  sullen,  and  of  a  reserved  conversation,  which  can  be 
no  ways  agreeable  to  your  daughter,  nor  for  her  advantage.     These  and  all 
that  society  have  free  access  to  my  wife,  but  I  believe  Dr.  More,  though  he 
was  in  the  house  all  the  last  summer,  did  not  see  her  above  twice  or  thrice.' 
(p.  254.) 

2  See  Serious  Proposal  to  the  Ladies  for  the  advancement  of  their  true 
and  greatest  Interest,  by  a  lover  of  her  sex  (published  1694.) 

3  See  Miss  Strickland's  Lives  of  the  Queens  of  England :  Mary  Beatrice 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  149 

pleased  with  the  proposal  that  she  purposed  giving  10,000?. 
for  the  erection  of  a  college  in  which  it  might  be  carried 
out.     But  Bishop  Burnet  '  buzzed  into  the  ears  '  of  this 
great  lady  a  sort  of  '  No  Popery '  alarm,  and  so  wrought 
upon  her  feelings  that,  '  as  she  was  zealously  attached  to 
the  Church  of   England,'   she  abandoned  her  benevolent 
intention.      Hence  the  scheme  fell   through    for  want   of 
funds ;    but  poor  Mrs.  Astell  was  not  allowed  to  rest  in 
peace.      An  atrocious  libel,  reflecting  upon  her  personal 
character,  and  ridiculing  her  '  Platonic  notions '  (she  was  a 
vehement  anti-Platonist !)  appeared  in  the    32nd  number 
of    the    *  Tatler,'    and   the    attack   was    renewed    in    the 
63rd  number.     The  papers  are  manifestly  written  under 
an  entire  misconception,  and  would  not  be  worth  noticing 
but  for  the  fame  of  the  periodical  in  which  they  appeared. 
Everything  we  hear  of   Mrs.  Astell  gives  us  the    idea   of 
one   who   lived   a   most   blameless    life,    and   was   valued 
intellectually,  perhaps  beyond  her  merits,  by  her  contem 
poraries.     Dean  (afterwards  Bishop)  Atterbury,1  her  near 
neighbour  at   Chelsea,   John  Norris   of   Bemerton,2  Dean 
Hickes,3  Henry  Dodwell,4  all  agree  in  praising  her  highly, 
and  it  would  be  difficult  to  discover  a  single  hint  which 
would  lead  one  to  suppose  that  her  reputation  as  a  most 
Christian-minded  woman  was  undeserved. 

Susanna  Hopton  (1627-1709)  resembled  in  many  re 
spects  Mary  Astell.  Both  were  what  would  now  be  called 
advanced  churchwomen  ;  both  were  intelligent  and  learned 
beyond  the  average  of  women  of  their  day,  both  had  many 
friends  and  correspondents  among  the  clergy,  and  both 

of  Modena,  vi.  245  ;  Ballard's  Memoirs  of  British  Ladies  :  Mary  Astell,  p.  307. 
Also  Tatler,  No.  37,  note  in  the  edition  of  1797. 

1  See  Memoirs  and  Correspondence  of  Bishop  Atterbury,  by  Folkestone 
Williams,  i.  169,  containing  an  interesting  letter  from  Atterbury  to  Smal- 
ridge  about  Mrs.  Astell. 

*  See  Letters  concerning  the  Love  of  God  beticeen  the  Author  of  the 
Proposal  to  the  Ladies,  and  Mr.  John  Norris. 

3  See  his  Letters  to  Dr.  Charlett,  Master  of  University  College. 

4  '  That  admirable  gentlewoman,  Mrs.  Astell.' 


15O          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

wrote  devotional  works  of  considerable  repute.  But 
Susanna  Hopton  was  perhaps  in  rather  a  higher  social 
position  than  Mary  Astell ;  at  any  rate,  she  was  more 
richly  endowed  with  this  world's  goods.  Dr.  Hickes  and 
Dr.  Spinckes  have  both  given  us  brief,  but  very  vivid, 
sketches  of  her  life  and  character;  and  of  course  she 
figures  conspicuously  in  Ballard's  *  Memoirs  of  Learned 
British  Ladies.'  From  these  sources,  and  from  her  own 
writings,  which  evidently  reflect  the  writer's  own  mind,  it 
is  easy  to  form  a  definite  picture  of  the  good  lady.  She  is 
described  by  Spinckes  as  '  a  person  of  quality,  estate,  and 
figure  in  her  country,  the  ingeniously  inquisitive,  and  truly 
devout  and  pious  relict  of  K.  Hopton,  Esq.,  who  had  been 
one  of  the  Welsh  judges  in  the  reigns  of  Charles  II.  and 
James  II.'  *  In  her  early  years  she  had  been  allured  into 
the  Church  of  Rome,  but  she  came  back  to  the  Church  of 
her  baptism,  more  strongly  convinced  of  its  excellence  than 
ever,  and  she  never  wavered  in  her  opinion  again  to  the 
end  of  her  long  life.  Hickes  writes  of  her  as  '  one  whose 
house  is  a  temple,  and  whose  family  is  a  church  or  religious 
society,  and  whose  hands  are  daily  lifted  up  to  Heaven, 
with  alms  as  well  as  prayers ;  one  who  religiously  observes 
all  the  orders  of  the  Church,  and  for  the  great  ends  for 
which  they  are  enjoyned ;  in  a  word,  one  who  is  a  great 
ornament  to  our  communion  in  this  degenerate  age.' 2 

Damaris  Cudworth  (1658-1708),  daughter  of  Ralph 
Cud  worth,  the  great  author  of  the  '  Intellectual  System,' 
wife  of  Sir  F.  Masham,  and  friend  of  John  Locke,  who 
died  in  her  house,  deserves  a  passing  notice  as  a  pious  and 
learned  lady.  As  might  be  expected  in  a  disciple  of  Locke, 
she  was  a  church  woman  of  a  different  type  from  that  of 
the  last  two  ladies,  but  she  was  a  churchwoman,  and,  so 

1  See  Spinckes'  Preface  to  A  Collection  of  Meditations  and  Devotions, 
in  three  Parts  (published  1717). 

'*  Preface  to  Devotions  in  the  ancient  way  of  Offices,  &c.  See  also  Hickes' 
Letters,  passim,  especially  vol.  ii.  pp.  119  and  129. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    CF    THE    PERIOD  151 

far  as  can  be  ascertained,  a  very  worthy  one.  Locke  held 
her  in  the  highest  admiration  and  esteem,  and  her  kind 
attention  to  that  great  man  is  one  of  the  many  amiable 
traits  in  her  character.1 

Ken's  '  Good  Virgins,'  the  two  Misses  Kemeyse,  in  whose 
retreat  at  Naish  House  the  deprived  bishop  often  sought 
refuge  when  the  gaieties  of  Longleat  drove  him  from  that 
hospitable  seat,  or  when  the  rules  of  his  Church  suggested 
a  '  retirement  into  the  desert  out  of  the  noise  and  hurry  of 
the  world,' 2  ought  not  to  be  forgotten.  Ken  was  attracted 
not  only  by  the  solitude  of  Naish  House,  but  by  his  esteem 
for  the  good  old  maiden  ladies  who  owned  it.  They,  in 
their  turn,  had  the  deepest  reverence  for  Ken,  and  relieved, 
through  him,  many  of  the  deprived  clergy.  One  of  them, 
who  was  a  recipient  of  their  bounty,  Thomas  Smith,  has 
drawn  a  pretty  picture  of  their  life.  '  The  private  seat,'  he 
writes  to  Ken,  '  of  the  good  ladyes  hath  better  pretence  to 
the  title  of  a  "  Eeligious  House"  than  those  so-called  in 
Popish  countries.  .  .  .  These  good  ladyes  are  happy  under 
your  conduct,  and  are,  by  an  uninterrupted  course  of  piety, 
elevated  above  all  the  gaudy  pompes  and  vanities  of  the 
world,  and  enjoy  all  the  comforts  and  satisfactions  and 
serenity  of  mind,  to  be  wished  for  and  attained  on  this  side 
of  Heaven,  in  their  solitude.'3 

The  '  Matchless  Orinda '  may  fairly  claim  a  place  among 
eminent  churchwomen,  though  certainly  not  so  promi 
nent  a  one  as  the  epithet  attached  to  her  name  would 
imply.  The  'matchless  Orinda'  was  known  to  prosaic 
mortals  as  Mrs.  Katherine  Philips,  nee  Fowler  (1631-1664). 
Brought  up  as  a  Presbyterian,  she  became  a  staunch  church- 
woman  and  royalist  by  conviction,  at  a  time  when  such  a 
change  was  anything  but  beneficial  to  her  worldly  pros- 

1  See  Professor  Fowler's  '  Locke,'  in  the  English  Men  of  Letters  series, 
pp.  02  and  106. 

2  Ken's  Prose  Works,  edited  by  Bound,  pp.  9G-99. 

3  Ken's  Prose  Works,  ut  supra. 


T52          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

pects.  She  was  born  and  passed  her  childhood  within  the 
sound  of  Bow  Bells,  but  on  her  marriage  with  a  Welsh 
gentleman,  Mr.  Philips  (the  Antenor  of  her  poems),  she  went 
to  live  in  the  more  poetical  region  of  South  Wales.  Here 
she  made  the  acquaintance  and  won  the  esteem  of  her 
neighbour  at  Golden  Grove,  Jeremy  Taylor,  who  paid  her 
the  high  honour  of  dedicating  his  *  Discourse  on  the  Nature, 
Offices,  and  Measures  of  Friendship  '  '  to  the  most  ingenious 
and  excellent  Mrs.  Katherine  Philips.'  '  Most  ingenious 
and  excellent '  we  may  allow  her  to  have  been,  though  we 
cannot  admit  her  to  be  'matchless,'  and  though  we  may 
think  her  ingenuity  to  be  rather  perverted  in  her  high- 
flown  advocacy  of  platonic  friendship  in  her  poems ;  but 
all  her  influence,  which  for  a  time  was  very  great,  was 
exercised  in  behalf  of  what  was  pure  and  good,  and  she 
was  an  excellent  Christian  and  churchwoman. 

Mrs.  Evelyn,  the  wife  of  John  Evelyn,  was  a  wife  wor 
thy  of  such  a  husband.  This  is  evident  from  incidental 
notices  in  the  famous  'Diary,'  and  is  confirmed  by  the 
lady's  own  'Letters,'  and  by  the  'Character'  of  her,  as 
sketched  by  Dr.  Bohun,  her  son's  tutor.  '  The  memory/ 
writes  Dr.  Bohun,  '  of  her  virtues  and  benefits  made  such 
deep  impression  on  her  neighbours  of  Deptford  and  Green 
wich,  that  if  any  should  bring  in  another  report  from  this, 
or  what  was  generally  received  among  them,  they  would 
condemn  it  as  false,  and  the  effect  of  a  slanderous  calumny.' 
She  herself  gives  us  an  excellent  sketch  of  what  she  con 
sidered  to  be  the  province  of  a  pious  wife  and  mother, 
though  it  would  hardly  satisfy  the  advocates  of  women's 
rights.  '  We  are  willing,'  she  writes  to  Dr.  Bohun,  '  to 
acknowledge  all  time  borrowed  from  family  duties  is  mis 
spent ;  the  care  of  children's  education,  observing  a  hus 
band's  commands,  assisting  the  sick,  relieving  the  poor, 
and  being  serviceable  to  our  friends,  are  of  sufficient  weight 
to  employ  the  most  improved  capacities  amongst  us.'  '  In 

1  The  Letters  of  Mrs.  Evelyn,  with  her  Character  by  Dr.  Bohun,  will  be 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  153 

these  unpretentious  but  useful  duties  she  was  content  to 
spend  her  blameless  life,  proving  a  good  helpmate  to  her 
famous  husband,  whom  she  survived  about  three  years. 

There  are  some  ladies  whose  piety  is  only  known  to 
us  from  the  fact  of  their  funeral  sermons  having  been 
preached  by  famous  divines,  and  therefore  preserved. 
Such  were  Lady  Cutts,  who  died  at  the  early  age  of  eigh 
teen,  and  of  whom  a  full  biography  is  given  in  one  of  Atter- 
bury's  famous  sermons ;  J  and  Lady  Marow,  whose  funeral 
sermon  Bishop  Hough  preached  in  1714.  It  concludes, 
after  a  long  panegyric,  thus  :  '  They  who  knew  the  Lady 
Marow  will  subscribe  to  what  I  have  said  concerning  her ; 
and,  I  apprehend,  will  think  the  character  rather  short  and 
defective,  than  that  I  have  exceeded  it ; ' 2  Lady  Brooke  (1602- 
1683),  daughter  of  the  famous  royalist  T.  Culpepper,  and 
wife  of  Sir  E.  Brooke  ;  but,  apart  from  the  fact  that  funeral 
sermons  are  not  very  satisfactory  testimonies,  these  ladies 
are  rather  too  shadowy  beings  to  be  adduced  as  instances 
of  female  piety. 

There  is,  however,  one  class  of  churchwomen  who  must 
not  be  omitted,  namely,  the  wives  of  clergymen.  The  popular 
opinion  that  the  clergy  of  this  period  married,  as  a  rule,  wives 
of  a  low  social  standing,  may  be  incorrect.  But  waiving 
that  question  for  the  present,  it  is  clear  that  the  clergyman's 
wife,  as  such,  was  not  so  prominent  a  feature  in  clerical 
life  as  she  is  at  present.  She  generally  appears,  when  she 
appears  at  all  in  clerical  biographies,  simply  as  the  help 
mate  of  her  husband.  Thus,  Anne  Nelson,  daughter  of  the 
rector  of  Haugham  in  Lincolnshire,  who  married  Robert 
Sanderson,  is  sufficiently  described,  according  to  the  no 
tions  of  Sanderson's  biographer,  as  '  such  a  wife  as  was 
suitable  to  his  own  desires  ;  a  wife  that  made  his  life  happy 

found  appended  to  the  4th  volume  of  Evelyn's  Diary,  Bray's  edition, 
1852. 

'  Sermon  VI.  in  Atterbury's  Sermons,  8th  ed.,  1766. 

2  See  Life  of  Rev.  John  Hough,  D.D.,  successively  Bishop  of  Oxford, 
Lichfield  and  Coventry,  and  Worcester,  by  J.  Wihnot,  p.  78. 


154       LIFE  IN  TIIE  ENGLISH  CHURCH,  1660  1714 

by  being  always  content  when  he  was  cheerful ;  that 
divided  her  joys  with  him,  and  abated  of  his  sorrow,  by 
bearing  a  part  of  that  burden ;  a  wife  that  demonstrated 
her  affection  by  a  cheerful  obedience  to  all  his  desires 
during  the  whole  course  of  his  life  ;  and  at  his  death  too,  for 
she  survived  him.'  *  Mary  Caning,  who  became  the  wife 
of  Kobert  Frampton,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  is 
briefly  referred  to  by  Frampton's  contemporary  biographer 
as  one  who  '  understood  the  grounds  of  religion  as 
thoroughly  as  most.  And  as  few  could  talk  better  of  it  than 
she,  so  yet  fewer  there  are  that  so  conscientiously  reduced 
their  knowledge  to  practice,  and  was  thereby  a  yoke  fellow 
worthy  such  an  husband.' 2  Bridget  Gregory,  who  married 
Bishop  Bull,  is  described,  wrhile  yet  living,  by  Bull's  bio 
grapher,  as  '  in  all  respects  a  fit  consort  for  a  clergyman,  as 
being  in  her  own  nature  sufficiently  provident,  and  yet  well 
disposed  to  all  manner  of  good  works,  out  of  a  true  principle 
of  love  to  God  and  goodness.  Her  attire  was  very  plain  and 
grave  ;  her  chief  diversion  was  the  care  of  her  family  ;  and 
her  main  ambition  was  to  please  her  husband,  to  whom 
she  was  always  a  complying  and  obedient  wife.' 3  He  then 
proceeds  to  describe  her  self-denying  labours  in  behalf  of 
the  temporal  and  spiritual  condition  of  the  poor  ;  but  all 
was  done  in  the  strictest  subordination  to  her  husband's 
authority. 

It  is  the  same  with  Mrs.  Mary  Patten,  who  was  married 
to  the  saintly  Bishop  Wilson  in  1698.  During  the  short 
period  of  her  married  life,  which  was  barely  seven  years, 
she  was  the  most  sympathising  and  helpful  of  companions. 
The  good  bishop  mentions  in  his  catalogue  of  *  special 
favours,'  '  October  27,  1698,  I  was  married  to  M.  Patten,  an 
excellent  woman;' 4  and  then  tells  us  of  *  her  great  modesty 

*  Izaak  Walton's  Life  of  Dr.  Robert  Sanderson. 

'*  Life  of  Robert  Frampton,  Bishop  of  Gloucester,   edited   by   Rev.  T. 
Simpson  Evans,  from  an  old  MS.  Memoir,  pp.  109-10. 

3  Nelson's  Life  of  Bull,  p.  69.      4  Keble's  Life  of  Bishop  Wilson,  i.  121. 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  155 

and  meekness  of  spirit,  her  remarkable  dutifulness  to  her 
parents  and  love  to  her  relations  ;  her  singular  love  to  him 
self,  her  tender  affection  for  her  children,  in  performing  all 
the  offices  of  a  kind  and  pious  mother ;  her  peculiar  care  of 
her  family,  and  the  prudence  and  mildness  with  which  she 
governed  it ;  the  great  humility  of  her  conversation  with 
all  sorts  of  persons ;  her  great  compassion  for  the  poor  and 
miserable,  and  her  cheerful  concurrence  with  him  in  re 
lieving  them.'  l  This  is  an  ample  catalogue  of  virtues,  but 
it  will  be  observed  that  they  are  all  of  the  domestic  sort. 
Nor  do  any  of  the  exquisite  prayers  which,  more  suo,  he 
wrote  on  the  occasion  of  her  last  illness  and  of  her  death, 
from  which  the  above  description  is  taken,  give  us  any 
other  impression. 

Still  more  strikingly  is  the  point  we  are  noting  brought 
out  in  the  life  of  Elizabeth  Blake  (1661-170f),  the  third 
wife  of  Bishop  Burnet,  who  appears  to  have  been  really  a 
remarkable  woman.  She  was  the  eldest  daughter  of  Sir 
E.  Blake,  and  married  at  the  age  of  seventeen  Mr.  Berkeley 
of  Spetchley,  the  match  being  brought  about  by  Bishop 
Fell.  That  distinguished  prelate,  and  the  still  more  dis 
tinguished  Stillingfleet,  were  most  intimate  with  her,  and 
expressed  the  very  highest  opinion  both  of  her  intellectual 
and  moral  character.  Of  her  intellectual  powers  we  have 
ample  evidence  in  the  devotional  work  which  she  published 
anonymously,  and  which  will  be  noted  in  its  proper  place ; 
and  her  piety,  generosity,  and  humility  were  equally  con 
spicuous  during  her  married  life  and  her  seven  years  of 
widowhood.  And  yet,  Thomas  Burnet,  the  bishop's  son, 
describes  the  marriage  of  such  a  woman  with  his  father  in 
terms  which  would  be  applicable  to  the  selection  of  a  nur 
sery  governess.  *  The  assiduous  attention  which  he  was 
obliged  to,  whilst  he  was  preceptor  to  the  Duke  (of  Glou 
cester),  and  the  tender  age  of  his  children,  made  it  requisite 
to  look  out  for  a  proper  mistress  to  his  family.  He  fixed 

1  See  Stowell's  Life  of  Bishop  Wilson,  p.  54. 


156          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

upon  Mrs.  Berkeley,  a  lady  of  uncommon  degrees  of  know 
ledge,  piety,  and  virtue,'  &C.1 

All  these,  be  it  observed,  were  ladies  of  gentle  birth. 
And  so  was  a  still  more  remarkable  woman  than  any  of 
them,  Susanna  Annesley  (1669-1742),  the  faithful  wife  of 
Samuel  Wesley.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Dr.  Annesley,  a 
near  relation  of  the  Earl  of  Anglesey,  and  the  minister  of 
S.  Giles',  Cripplegate,  from  which  he  was  ejected  by  the 
Bartholomew  Act.  Thus  she  was  brought  up  a  noncon 
formist,  but  became  a  staunch  churchwoman  by  conviction 
before  she  was  thirteen  years  of  age.  The  many  readers 
of  the  many  lives  of  John  Wesley  must  have  been  struck 
with  the  marked  individuality  of  his  mother's  character. 
She  impressed  herself  upon  her  three  famous  sons,  whose 
early  education,  as,  indeed,  that  of  all  her  numerous 
family,  was  entirely  under  her  charge,  more  strongly  than 
their  father.  The  very  style  of  writing  which  was  common 
to  all  three  brothers,  Samuel,  John,  and  Charles,  closely 
resembles  that  of  their  mother  ;  plain  good  sense,  expressed 
curtly  and  even  bluntly,  but  in  thoroughly  pure  and  idio 
matic  language,  belongs  to  them  all.  Mrs.  Wesley  was  a 
well-educated  woman,  with  a  strong  and  even  masculine 
mind.  She  showed,  too,  a  masculine  spirit  in  her  brave 
struggles  with  poverty  ;  but  there  was  in  her  no  lack  of 
feminine  delicacy,  and  she  was  ever  content  to  be  simply 
the  rector's  wife,  though  she  was  clearly  the  stronger 
character  of  the  two.  She  did  not  always  agree  with  her 
husband,  for  while  he  wrote  in  defence  of  the  Revolution, 
she  sympathised  with  the  nonjurors ;  but  she  was  faithful 
to  her  marriage  vow  of  obedience,  and  was  as  admirable 
a  wife  as  she  was  a  mother.  But  her  life  and  letters  are, 
or  might  be,  so  well  known,  that  it  is  needless  to  dwell 

1  See  Life  of  Bishop  Burnet,  by  Thomas  Burnet,  Esq.,  prefixed  to 
Burnet's  History  of  his  Own  Times  (edition  of  1815).  For  an  account  of 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Burnet,  see  the  Memoirs  of  her  by  Thomas  Goodwyn,  D.D., 
Archdeacon  of  Oxford  [afterwards  Archbishop  of  Cashel],  prefixed  to  her 
Method  of  Devotion  (2nd  edition,  1709). 


FAITHFUL    LAITY    OF    THE    PERIOD  157 

longer  upon  her.1  But  for  the  fame  of  her  great  sons,  this 
very  remarkable  woman  would  have  probably  passed  into 
oblivion.  And  in  other  rectories,  besides  Epworth,  may  there 
not  have  been  Susanna  Wesleys  ?  She  is  not  spoken  of 
as  a  phenomenon,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
in  her  generation  there  were  not  many  who  followed  her, 
though  perhaps  '  haud  passibus  sequis.' 

1  See  Dr.  Adam  Clarke's  Memoirs  of  the  Wesley  Family.  The  Mother 
of  the  Wesleys,  by  Eev.  —  Kirk.  Susanna  Wesley,  by  E.  Clarke,  in  the 
Eminent  Women  series.  The  Women  of  Methodism,  by  A.  Stevens,  LL.D. 
Southey,  Tyerman,  &c. 


158          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 


CHAPTEK  IV. 

RESTORATION    OF    ORDER. 

A  DIFFICULT  task,  no  doubt,  lay  before  the  restorers  of 
Church  order  after  the  return  of  the  king.  The  havoc 
which  had  been  made  with  the  fabrics,  the  long  disuse  in 
public  of  the  order  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England, 
the  perplexity  of  men's  minds  amid  the  din  of  contending 
parties  when  there  were  almost  as  many  sects  as  worship 
pers,1  might  well  make  many  feel  as  Basire  felt  when  he  said 
1  it  would  take  up  a  whole  man  to  reform  the  parsons  and 
repair  the  churches.' 2  Nevertheless,  if  the  majority  of  the 
nation,  clergy  and  laity,  had  set  themselves,  shoulder  to 
shoulder,  to  restore  order  externally  and  internally,  the 
work  would  soon  have  been  done.  Unfortunately  this  was 
not  the  case.  Many  able  and  pious  churchmen,  both  lay 
and  clerical,  have  been  noticed,  and  many  more  might  be 
added  to  the  list,  and  these  men  in  time  made  their 
influence  felt.  But  there  were  also  many,  both  clergy  and 
laity,  who  were  very  far  indeed  from  helping  to  strengthen 
the  hands  of  the  Church.  It  has  been  said,  and,  it  is  to  be 
feared,  with  great  truth,  that  the  Church  had  to  begin  her 
work  with  a  clergy  of  whom  at  least  three- fourths  were 
alien  to  her  doctrine  and  discipline.3  The  penal  Acts  were  a 
direct  encouragement  to  men  of  loose  principles  to  conform, 
and  a  discouragement  to  men  of  tender  consciences.  They 
excluded  a  Howe,  a  Baxter,  and  a  Bates,  and  retained  a 

1  See  Henry  Rogers'  Life  and  Character  of  John  Hoive,  p.  64. 

2  See  Correspondence  of  Bishop  Cosin  (Surtees  Society),  Part  II. 

3  Church  Quarterly  Review. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  159 

Parker,  a  Cartwright,  and  a  Wood.  There  were  very  many 
conformists  who  were  not  churchmen  at  all,  except  in 
name.1  With  such  a  clergy  it  was  not  likely  that  Church 
order  would  be  restored  rapidly,  even  if  the  laity  had  been 
staunch.  But,  though  doubtless  the  laxity  and  viciousness 
which  belonged  to  the  Court  and  its  purlieus  have  been 
attributed  too  generally  to  the  country  at  large,  still  the 
contemporary  complaints  of  a  general  looseness  of  morals 
are  too  numerous  and  trustworthy  to  be  disregarded.  The 
reader,  therefore,  must  expect  to  find  in  this  chapter  indi 
cations  of  only  a  very  gradual  progress. 

To  begin  with  the  fabrics.  The  condition  of  the  Cathe 
drals  must  have  been  appalling  indeed  when  the  king  re 
turned.  S.  Paul's  is  described  as  a  loathsome  Golgotha.2 
The  choir  had  been  turned  into  horse  barracks  for  the 
Oliverian  troopers,  and  saw-pits  had  been  dug  within  its 
enclosures.3  When  Bishop  Hacket  went  to  Lichfield  '  he 
found  sorrow  and  pity  in  himself  to  see  his  Cathedral 
Church  lying  in  the  dust.  At  S.  Asaph  the  postmaster 
had  kept  his  horses  and  oxen  in  the  nave.  At  Exeter  they 
made  the  church  a  common  jakes.4  The  accounts  of 

1  Take    the    following    contemporary    definition    of    Latitudinarians : 
'  Persons  that  had  no  great  liking  for  the  liturgy  or  ceremonies,  or  indeed  the 
government  of  this  church,  but  yet  had  attained  to  such  a  largeness  and  free 
dom  of  judgment,  as  that  they  could  conform,  though  without  any  warmth  or 
affection  for  these  things.'     (Appendix  to  Birch's  Life  of  Tillotson,  by  J.  B. 
rthat  is,  John  Beardmore,  Tillotson's  pupil  at  Clare  Hall]).     This  is  not  a 
fair  description  of  all  '  Latitudinarians,'  but  it  is  applicable  to  many  '  con 
formists.'      Dean   Granville   complains   of    '  the   nonconformity  or  rather 
semi-conformity  of  the  clergy  (who  did  with  zeale  more  than  enough  and 
sometimes  too  bitterly  inveigh  against  nonconformists),  which  engendered 
that  brood  which  are  the  authors  of  our  misery,  and  their  forwardness  to 
dispense,  throughout  the  nation,  with  the  Church  discipline  as  they  pleased, 
rubricks  of  Liturgy,'  &c.    (Remains  of  Dean  Granville,  Surtees  Miscellanea, 
Part  I.,  p.  136.)     See  also  Part  II.,  p.  42.     Also,  Life  of  Bishop  Frampton, 
edited  by  Eev.   T.   Simpson,  p.  133  ;    South's  Sermons,  passim ;    Life  of 
Bishop  Hacket,  &c.  &c. 

2  A  Character  of  England,  &c.,  by  John  Evelyn,  published  1659. 

3  Sir  Christopher  Wren  and  his  Times,  Elmes,  p.  224. 

*  Traditions  and  Customs  of  Cathedrals,  by  Mackenzie  Walcott,  p.  6. 


160          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Canterbury,1  Chichester,2  in  fact  almost  all  the  Cathedrals 
except  Salisbury  are  as  bad.  The  parish  churches  do  not 
appear  to  have  suffered  so  severely  as  the  Cathedrals,  which 
were  the  objects  of  the  Puritans'  special  aversion,  but  the 
accounts  of  them  are  sad  enough.  Thus  Archdeacon 
Basire  reports  of  Northumberland  in  1662  :  '  The  Fabricks 
of  many  Churches  and  Chappells  are  altogether  ruinous  and 
in  great  decay,  and  cannott  be  gotten  repaired  without 
visitations.  In  many  churches  there  be  neither  Bibles, 
Books  of  Common  Prayer,  surplisses,  fonts,  Communion 
Tables,  nor  anything  that  is  necessarie  for  the  service  of 
God.' 3  In  1665  he  does  not  appear  to  have  found  matters 
much  improved,4  and  four  years  later  he  '  did  visit  as  many 
churches  as  he  could,  sundry  of  which  were  scandalously 
ruinous.'5  In  1671  the  author  of  the  'Answer  to  the 
Grounds  &c.  for  the  Contempt  of  the  Clergy  '  writes  :  '  You 
might  ride  through  a  street  remarkable  for  nothing  so 
much  as  that  haply  the  church  is  not  thakt  so  well  as 
most  of  the  houses.'  In  1677  Evelyn  rode  through  Suffolk, 
and  found  '  most  of  the  Houses  of  God  in  this  county  re 
sembling  rather  stables  and  thatched  cottages  than  temples 
in  which  to  serve  the  Most  High.' 6  In  1686  the  commis 
sioners  appointed  by  Bishop  Lake  to  inquire  into  the 
condition  of  parish  churches  in  Sussex  report  a  most 

The  whole  of  this  work  deserves  careful  attention  from  those  who  desire  to 
know  the  state  of  the  Cathedrals. 

1  See  Rennet's  Register,  162,  and  Lathbury's  History  of  the  Convocation 
of  the  Church  of  England,  p.  298. 

2  Diocesan   Histories— Chichester,   by  W.  E.   W.  Stephens  (S.P.C.K.), 
p.  221,  &c. 

3  From    Hunter's   Collection   of    MSS.,    ii.    68,    quoted   in   Granville's 
Remains,  Part  I.,  p.  251.    See  also  Basire's  letter  to  Bishop  Cosin,  in  1661, 
in  Correspondence  of  Bislwp  Cosin,  Surtees  Society,  Part  II.,  p.  87. 

4  At  S.  Nicholas,  the  mother  church  of  Newcastle,  the  roof  was  so  bad 
that  it  rained  in  upon  the  aldermen  when  they  were  receiving  the  Holy 
Communion.     The  chancel  at  Ilderton  was  ruinous  ;  at  Ingrain  the  body  of 
the  church  was  ruinous, '  covered  with  sodds ' ;  at  Shilbottle  the  Minister  had 
no  gown,  and  the  chancel  no  windows.     And  so  forth. 

5  Correspondence  of  Isaac  Basire,  edited  by  Darnall,  p.  280. 

6  Diary,  ii.  113. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  l6l 

grievous  state  of  things ; ]  in  the  same  year  Bishop  Turner 
complains  of  *  the  sordidness  of  so  many  country  churches  ' 
in  the  diocese  of  Ely ; 2  and  even  so  late  as  1697,  the 
Bishop  of  Lincoln  tells  his  clergy  that  some  chancels  '  lay 
wholly  disused  in  more  nasty  manner  than  any  cottager 
would  keep  his  own  house.' 3  But  sad  as  these  accounts 
are,  it  will  be  observed  that  most  of  the  things  complained 
of  might  have  been  easily  remedied,  and  in  many  cases  they 
certainly  were.  Thus  Bishop  Turner,  in  the  letter  already 
quoted,  gratefully  owns  that  '  having  found  very  many  of 
the  churches  very  sadly  dilapidated,  or,  at  least,  mightily  out 
of  repair,  he  had  now  pleasing  accounts  from  many  places  of 
the  care  already  taken  to  repair  them.'  The  mere  enumera 
tion  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren's  achievements  is  sufficient  to 
shew  that  the  work  of  church  building  and  restoration  was 
actively  carried  on.  <  From  1666  to  1711  he  designed  and 
built  fifty-three  parish  churches  in  London,  besides  repara 
tions  and  additions  to  many  others,  repaired  and  added 
to  the  Cathedrals  of  Salisbury,  Chichester,  Westminster 
Abbey  &c.' 4  It  must  of  course  be  remembered  that  the  Fire 
of  London,  in  which  eighty-nine  churches  were  destroyed, 
necessitated  much  of  this  work ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  it 
did  not  include  the  most  active  part  of  our  period,  the 
latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  when  Wren,  though 
still  living,  was  laid  by,  while  it  did  include  the  reign  of 
James  II.,  during  which  church  building  was  almost  at  a 
standstill.5  Lichfield  Cathedral  was  practically  rebuilt, 

1  See  Diocesan  History  of  Chichester,  ut  supra,  p.  288. 

2  See  Letter  to  the  Clergy  of  the  Diocese  of  Ely,  by  Bishop  Turner,  before 
his  Visitation,  1086. 

3  Visitation  Charge,  1097. 

4  See  Sir  Christopher  Wren  and  his  Times,  by  James  Elmes,  p.  265, 
and  Lucy  Phillimore's,  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  Appendix  II.,  p.  338,  where 
a  full  list  of  the  churches  &c.  built  by  Sir  C.  Wren  is  given. 

5  '  There  are  few  examples,'  writes  White  Kennet,  '  of  piety  to  parish 
churches  in  the  reign  of  James  II.,  because  of  the  just  apprehension  of 
danger,  and  threats  of  destruction  to  the  Church  bylaw  established.'    (Case 
of  Impropriations,  &c.,  published  1704,  p.  308.) 

M 


1 62  LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

mainly  through  the  noble  exertions  of  Bishop  Hacket, 
whom  his  grateful  fellow-citizens  therefore  called  '  a  second 
Cedda.' l  25,OOOL  were  spent  on  Exeter  Cathedral  during 
Dr.  Seth  Ward's  short  incumbency  of  the  see  ;  and  a  large 
sum  was  expended,  though  with  very  questionable  taste, 
on  Salisbury,  when  he  was  Bishop  of  Sarum.  S.  Paul's 
was  entirely  rebuilt,  and  in  fact,  most  of  the  Cathedrals 
were  made  more  or  less  decent,  and  this  implies  the  ex 
penditure  of  a  vast  sum  of  money. 

With  regard  to  the   parish  churches,  we  can  only  gather 
what  was  done  from  incidental  notices  ;  but  these  are  suffi 
cient  to  show  that  the  work  was  very  considerable.     Thus 
the  two  excellent  Lords  Digby,  Simon  and  William,  spent 
large  sums  in  church  building  and  repairing  at  Coleshill, 
Overwhitacre,  and  Sheldon  ; 2  Dr.  Busby  *  built  a  handsome 
church  at  Willan.' 3     All  Saints',  Oxford,  was  built  from  a 
design  of  Dean  Aldrich,  and  *  esteemed  a  finished  specimen 
of  his  acknowledged  skill  in  architecture.'4     The  Man  of 
Boss's  liberality  in  regard  to  the  fabric  of  his  parish  church 
is  historical.     We  read  of  a  new  church  at  Ingestre  built 
by  the  'pious  and  generous  Walter  Chetwynd,  Esq.,'  in 
1677  ;5  of  a  new  church  (Christ  Church)  near  Paris  Garden, 
Southwark,  erected  in  1670  at  the  sole   expense   of  Mr. 
George  Marshall,  an  inhabitant.6     But  it  would  be  weari 
some  to  go  on  with  the  list ;    let  us  rather  observe,  that 
from  what  we  know  of  the  churches  that  were  built,  it  is 
obvious  that  there  was  no  stinting  of  money.     Take,  for  in 
stance,  the  noblest  of  all  the  monuments  of  the  period,  new 
S.  Paul's.    Besides  the  parliamentary  aid,  which  must  have 

1  Letter  from  the  Corporation  of  Lichfield  to  Elias  Ashmole  in  1666. 
See  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  that  learned  Antiquary,  E.  Ashmole,  Esq.,  drawn 
up  by  himself  by  way  of  Diary. 

2  See  Life  of  Eawlet  (by  Dr.  Bray). 

3  Case  of  Impropriations  &c.,  p.  345. 

4  See  Life  and  Literary  Remains  of  Dean  Bathurst  (1711),  p.  71. 

5  Case  of  Impropriations  &c.,  297. 

«  White  Kcnnet's  History  of  England,  iii.  p.  286. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  163 

been  considerable,1  Bishop  Compton  issued  an  address  to 
the  country  at  large,  which  was  nobly  responded  to,  espe 
cially  by  the  wealthier  clergy.  The  work  was  thirty-five 
years  in  progress  (1675-1710),  and,  when  completed,  was 
worthy  of  a  great  nation.  Other  churches  built  at  the 
same  time  in  London,  such  as  S.  Mary-le-Bow,  of  which 
the  Londoners  of  the  time  were  immensely  proud,2  and 
S.  James's,  Piccadilly,  were  very  costly,  as,  indeed,  were 
all  Wren's  churches.  We  then  come  to  the  famous  Act  of 
1710  for  the  building  of  fifty-two  new  churches  within  the 
bills  of  mortality.  The  project  was  cordially  recommended 
by  Convocation 3  and  warmly  taken  up  by  Queen  Anne ; 
and  the  Bill  passed  Parliament  without  opposition.  The 
veteran  Wren  gave  the  benefit  of  his  advice,  though  he  was 
too  old  to  undertake  so  vast  a  work.  The  Commission  was 
formed,  and  everything  seemed  to  be  going  on  in  the  most 
satisfactory  manner.  But  alas  !  Robert  Nelson  shewed  a 
sad  prescience  when  a  year  or  two  later  he  uttered  a  warn 
ing  voice,  reminding  his  rich  fellow-countrymen  that  the 
work  was  '  only  begun,  not  done.' 4  It  never  was  done.  Of 
the  fifty-two  projected  churches,  only  twelve  were  built,  and 
three  or  four  others  repaired  ;  the  work  languished,  and 
was  quietly  suffered  to  drop  altogether  ;  but  on  the  twelve 
that  were  built  no  expense  was  spared. 

From  the  fabrics  we  pass  on  to  the  services  which  were 
performed  within  them.  To  begin  with  the  Sacraments. 
One  of  the  disorders  against  which  good  churchmen  waged 
incessant  war,  was  the  administration  of  Holy  Baptism  in 
private  houses  without  any  urgent  necessity.  Pepys  con- 

1  An  Act  was  passed  for  levying  a  duty  of  3s.  a  chaldron  on  all  coals 
brought  into  the  port  of  London,  half  of  which  was  to  be  applied  to  the  re 
building  of  S.  Paul's  and  other  parish  churches  from  1670  to  1687. 

2  '  It  lifts  up  its  head,'  writes  Paterson,  '  above  and  excells  most  of  the 
churches  in  London,  and  perhaps  in  Europe.'     (Pietas  Londinensis,  pub 
lished  1714.) 

3  See  Lathbury's  History  of  Convocation,  p.  410. 

4  Address   to  Persons  of  Quality  :    Ways  and  Means  of  Doing  Good 
(1715). 

M  2 


164  LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

stantly  refers  to  these  private  christenings  in  terms  which 
intimate  that  they  were  the  rule,  not  the  exception.1  Bishop 
Compton  made  '  the  shameful  disuse  of  public  baptisms  ' 
one  of  the  chief  subjects  of  conference  with  his  clergy  in 
1683. 2  It  is  related  of  Sherlock  of  Winwick,  as  a  proof  of 
his  exceptional  firmness,  that  he  would  never  baptize  in 
houses,  or  except  as  the  rubric  directs,3  and  Bull's  similar 
conduct  at  Suddington  is  spoken  of  in  similar  terms.4 
Dean  Granville  complains  of  one  of  his  curates'  '  com 
plaisance  with  the  rich  about  privately  baptizing,  which,' 
he  adds,  '  was  quite  the  contrary  to  my  method,  who,  if  I 
had  made  an  exception  at  all,  would  have  made  it  for  the 
poor.' 5  Articles  of  Visitation  generally  include  a  question  on 
this  subject,  as  being  one  of  the  evils  of  the  day.6  It  was 
not  an  evil  easily  eradicated.  So  late  as  1703  we  find  the 
Lower  House  of  Convocation  complaining  of  the  neglect  of 
parents  to  bring  children  who  had  been  privately  baptized 
to  church.  Later  still,  Bishop  Bull  warns  his  clergy  in 
the  diocese  of  S.  David's  against  private  baptisms.7  It 
should  be  noted  that  it  was  not  mere  carelessness  on  the 
part  of  the  minister  which  caused  this  irregularity.  In  the 
first  place,  there  was  a  difficulty  in  persuading  some  people 
who  '  had  as  mean  an  opinion  of  the  baptismal  waters  as 
Naamanhad  of  those  of  Israel,' 8  to  have  their  children  bap 
tized  at  all,  and  clergymen  might  act  on  the  principle,  that 
if  the  mountain  would  not  come  to  Mahomet,  Mahomet 
must  go  to  the  mountain.  Again,  the  old  disputes  about 
the  sign  of  the  cross  and  sponsors  had  not  yet  died  out,  so 

See  Diary,  passim. 

Episcopalia^  or  Letters  of  Henry  Compton,  Bishop  of  London,  to  the 
Cle  gy  of  his  Diocese,  1686. 

Memoir  prefixed  to  Sherlock's  Practical  Christian  (6th  edition,  1713). 

Nelson's  Life  of  Bishop  Bull,  pp.  94  and  184. 

Remains,  Part  II.,  pp.  159-60. 

See,  inter  alia,  Bishop  Racket's  Articles  of  Visitation  in  1668. 

Nelson's  Life  of  Bull,  p.  259. 

Representation  of  the  State  of  Christianity  in  England  ;  an  interesting 
and  racy  anonymous  tract  published  in  1674. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  165 

there  was  a  temptation  to  cut  the  Gordian  knot  by  not 
performing  the  rite  in  church  at  all.  Dean  Sherlock 
thinks  that  this  was  the  origin  of  the  evil  custom.1  There 
was  also  an  encouragement  to  the  practice  from  quite  an 
opposite  direction.  In  the  time  of  the  troubles,  church 
men  who  desired  to  have  their  children  baptized  according 
to  the  rites  of  the  Church,  were  forced  to  have  the  Sacrament 
administered  at  home,  the  churches  not  being  available; 
and  the  habit  formed  by  necessity  lived  on  when  the 
necessity  no  longer  existed.  And  finally,  there  was  the 
feeling  of  parents  that  it  was  a  grander  thing  to  have  the 
christening  at  home,  that  it  '  saved  charge  and  trouble,' 2 
that  consideration  was  thus  paid  to  '  the  softness  of  mothers 
who  would  not  expose  an  infant  to  the  air,  except,'  adds 
our  informant  with  sly  humour,  '  it  be  to  send  it  to 
nurse.' 3 

There  was  at  least  equal  disorder  to  be  remedied  in  the 
administration  of  the  other  great  Sacrament  of  the  gospel. 
If  in  the  later  days  of  the  Commonwealth  public  baptism 
had  fallen  into  disuse,  there  was  almost  a  total  cessation  of 
the  Holy  Communion  in  churches.4  Indeed,  before  the 
civil  war  broke  out  there  had  been  great  laxity  about  the 
celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion.  Even  George  Herbert's 
model  country  parson,  '  touching  the  frequencie  of  the  Com 
munion,  celebrates  it,  if  not  duly  once  a  month,  yet  at 
least  five  or  six  times  in  the  year,  as  at  Easter,  Christmas, 
Whitsuntide,  afore  and  after  harvest,  and  at  the  beginning 
of  Lent,'  and  the  writer  clearly  contemplates  the  possibility 
of  its  being  celebrated  even  less  frequently.5  It  is  obvious 

1  See  his  Practical  Discourse  of  Religious  Assemblies,  published  in 
1681,  in  which  he  also  says  that  '  Public  baptism  is  now  very  much  grown 
out  of  fashion,  most  people  looking  upon  it  as  a  very  needless  and  trouble 
some  ceremony,'  &c.,  p.  192. 

-  Sherlock,  ut  supra,  3  Ibid. 

4  See  Perry's  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  ii.  p.  221. 

5  A  Priest  to  the  Temple,  or  the  Country  Parson,  &c.,  chap,  xxii.,  '  On 
the  Sacraments.' 


1 66          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

that  after  the  great  wave  of  puritanism  had  passed  over  the 
country,  there  would  be  still  greater  difficulty  in  establishing 
frequent  Communions.  And  we  have  abundant  evidence 
that  such  was  the  case.  When  Bull  was  at  Suddington, 
good  churchman  as  he  was,  '  he  could  only  bring  the  Holy 
Communion  to  seven  times  in  the  year,'  '  and  this,'  adds  his 
biographer,  '  was  oftener  than  was  usual  in  little  villages.' } 
Dean  Granville,  who  laid  the  very  greatest  stress  upon 
frequency  of  Communion,  could,  in  his  early  years  at  Sedg- 
field,  only  venture  to  insist  upon  his  curates  celebrating 
upon  the  four  great  Festivals  and  at  least  five  other  times 
during  the  year,  though  afterwards  (1679),  he  succeeded 
in  establishing  a  monthly  Communion.2  The  writer  of  a 
'  Eepresentation  of  the  State  of  Christianity  in  England,' 
gives  a  most  grievous  account  of  the  infrequency  of  Com 
munions  and  the  paucity  of  communicants  in  1674.  Anony 
mous  tracts  are  not  to  be  relied  on,  but  more  trustworthy 
authorities  tell  a  similar  tale.  Even  in  1694  Evelyn 
declares  that  '  unlesse  at  the  four  greater  Feasts,  there  is  no 
Communion  hereabouts.'3  He  is  referring  especially  to 
Wotton,  but  his  language  implies  that  the  same  neglect 
occurred  in  other  parishes.  Sir  Jonathan  Trelawney, 
when  Bishop  of  Bristol,  says  of  two  villages  in  his  diocese, 
Elberton  and  Littleton,  '  in  one  the  Sacrament  has  not  been 
administered  since  the  Eestoration,  in  the  other  very  seldom.' 
This  must  have  been  written  between  1685  and  1689  ;  he 
adds,  '  I  never  saw  so  ill  churches  or  such  ill  parishioners,' 
so  let  us  hope  that  such  extreme  neglect  was  exceptional.4 
But  Bishop  Turner  of  Ely  is  informed  in  1686,  that,  '  at 
Little  Gransden  there  is  but  Communion  twice  a  year  : ' 5  and 
even  at  a  large  place  like  Dedham,  in  Essex,  where  there 
was  a  most  devoted  and  hardworking  vicar,  Mr.  Burkitt, 
the  Holy  Communion  was  administered  only  once  in  every 

1  Nelson's  Life  of  Bull,  p.  93. 

2  Remains,  Part  I.,  p.  129-133.  3  Diary  for  May  0,  1694. 
4  Trelawney's  letter  to  Archbishop  Bancroft. 

b  See  Miss  Strickland's  Lives  of  the  Seven  Bishops,  p.  184. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  167 

two  months.1   Archbishop  Bancroft,  in  his  Injunctions  to  the 
clergy  of  his  Province  in  1688,  is  content  with  requiring  that 
'  in  greater  towns  the  clergy  should  administer  the  Com 
munion  once  every  month,  and  even  in  the  lesser  too,  if 
communicants  may  be  procured,  or,  however,  as  often  as 
they  may.' 2     There  was,  no  doubt,  a  steady  improvement 
as  Church  principles  by  degrees  permeated   through  the 
country.      Dean   Sherlock,   while  deploring,   in   1681,  the 
neglect  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  yet  adds,   'With  joy  we  now 
observe  more   frequent   and   numerous  Communions  than 
have  been  for  many  years  last  past.' 3     In  the  same  year 
Dr.  Comber  wrote  to  Dr.  Granville,  '  If  we  consider  how 
terribly  this  Sacrament  was  represented,  and  how  generally 
it  was  laid  aside  in  the  late  times,  we  might  wonder  how 
monthly  Communions  should  be  so  well  attended  on  by  the 
people  as  they  are,  and  this  was  as  large  a  step  as  could  be 
in   prudence  expected  for  the   first  twenty   years.'4      Dr. 
Comber  is  referring  especially  to  the  Cathedrals,  and  in  these 
a  further  step  was  soon  made  very  generally.     In  the  same 
year,  Patrick,  then  Dean  of  Peterborough,  tells  us,  '  The 
archbishop  required,  according  to  the  rubric,  that  we  should 
have  a  Communion  every  Sunday  in  Cathedral  Churches/ 
Dean  Granville  was  most  persistent  and  indefatigable  in  the 
matter  ; 6  and,  largely  owing  to  his  exertions,  the  custom 
became  established,  but  not  without  opposition,— and  some 
times  on  the  part  of  those  who  ought  to  have  been  the  first  to 
encourage  it.7    The  same  rule  was  adopted  in  several  London 

Life  of  Rev.  Mr.  William  Burkilt,  by  N.  Parkhurst  (published  1704). 

Quoted  in  D'Oyly's  Life  of  Bancroft,  i.  pp.  320-5. 

Practical  Discourse  of  Religious  Assemblies,  p.  205. 

Granville's  Remains,  Part  II.,  p.  86. 

Autobiography  of  Simon  Patrick,  p.  99. 

Comber's  biographer  calls  the  '  procuring  a  weekly  Sacrament  in  all 
the  Cathedrals  throughout  the  kingdom,  Dr.  Granville's  great  affair.' 
(Memoirs  of  Dean  Comber,  by  his  great-grandson,  p.  180.)  See  Granville's 
Remains,  Part  I.,  Introduction,  pp.  xxxii  and  xxxiii ;  Part  II.,  p.  125,  ar 

Dr.  John  Lake,  when  Bishop  of  Bristol,  met  with  great  opposition 


passim. 
1  Thus 


1 68          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

churches.  Beveridge,  who  made  S.  Peter's,  Cornlrill,  a 
model  parish  in  every  respect,  was  one  of  the  first  to  revive 
this  primitive  practice.1  S.  Martin's  in  the  Fields,  S. 
Andrew's,  Holborn,  and  several  other  churches  followed  the 
example,  so  that  in  1714,  Paterson,  in  his  '  Pietas  Londi- 
nensis,'  could  specify  twelve  churches  which  had  the  weekly 
Communion.  This  does  not,  of  course,  include  the  chapels 
of  the  nonjurors.  At  the  chapel  in  Great  Ormond  Street, 
which  Eobert  Nelson  frequented,  there  was  a  celebration, 
'  every  Sunday,  Good  Friday,  and  other  solemn  occasions.' 2 
But,  as  a  rule,  the  monthly  Communion  was  the  limit  even 
in  the  London  churches.  John  Scott,  Eector  of  St.  Giles' 
in  the  Fields,  who  would  certainly  take  a  high  standard  of 
church  manship,  assumes  this.  '  It  is,'  he  writes,  *  at  most 
but  once  a  month  you  are  invited.'3  When  there  was  a 
weekly  celebration  it  was  frequently  due  to  the  private 
efforts  of  the  '  Keligious  Societies.' 4 

Turning  to  the  number  of  communicants  we  have  cheer 
ing  accounts  from  several  sources.  Evelyn  tells  us  of 
*  neere  a  thousand  devout  persons  partaking  of  the  Holy 
Communion  '  in  S.  Martin's  in  the  Fields,  at  one  service 
in  1688.5  At  Dr.  Horneck's  church  (the  Savoy  Chapel),  '  the 
number  of  communicants  held  a  great  proportion  to  that  of 

from  the  Dean  when  he  tried  to  establish  the  weekly  Communion  in  the 
Cathedral. 

1  He  writes  to  his  parishioners,  «  God,  in  His  providence  hath  so  ordered 
it  that  you  live  in  a  place  where  this  Holy  Sacrament  is  actually  celebrated 
every  Lord's  Day,  and  may  be  so,  if  there  be  occasion,  every  day  in  the 
year.'  (The  Great  Necessity  and  Advantage  of  Public  Prayer  and  Frequent 
Communion,  p.  538.)  Dean  Granville,  when  in  London,  '  went  to  Dr. 
Beveridge's  for  the  satisfaction  of  receiving  the  Sacrament,  which  he  cele 
brates  weekly  in  his  parish  church.'  (Remains,  Part  I.,  p.  174.) 

'2  See  Secretan's  Life  of  Nelson,'  p.  175. 

3  Christian  Life,  vol.  i.  p.  313. 

4  See   Josiah   Woodward's   Account  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the 
Heligious  Societies  in  the  City  of  London,  &c.,  4th  edition,  1712. 

5  Diary,  iii.  252.     Let  us  hope  they  were  all  '  devout  persons,'  but  it  is 
fair  to  add  that  S.  Martin's  was  a  great  church  for  persons  qualifying  for 
office  by  communicating. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  169 

his  auditors,'  and  those  auditors  were  very  numerous,  for  '  a 
vast  crowd  there  was  that  followed  him,  and  such  a  collec 
tion  of  most  devout  and  conformable  persons  as  were  hardly 
to  be  found  elsewhere  ;  it  was  no  easy  matter  to  get  through 
the  crowd  to  the  pulpit.' '  The  members  of  the  Keligious 
Societies  frequented  in  great  numbers  the  weekly  com 
munions  which  were  established  by  their  means.2  In  a 
little  village  near  Leeds  we  hear  of  '  above  a  hundred  com 
municants  on  Good  Friday,  and  near  as  many  on  the  fol 
lowing  Easter  Day;'3  and  there  is  an  interesting  letter, 
dated  May  25,  1714,  from  Dr.  Hickes  to  Dr.  Charlett, 
Master  of  University  College,  Oxford,  in  which  the  writer 
says,  '  I  think  you  w7ere  wrong  not  to  assist  the  parish  priest 
for  want  of  a  surplice,  the  want  of  a  surplice  being  a  sufficient 
excuse  in  foro  ecclesiastico  et  conscientiae,  for  administering 
the  service  without  one,  especially  in  a  large  Communion; 
where  it  was  charity  loth  to  priest  and  people  to  assist.' 4 

In  most  of  these  instances,  however,  especial  pains  had 
evidently  been  taken.5  On  the  whole,  the  frequency  of, 
and  attendance  at,  the  Holy  Communion  appear  to  have 
been  two  of  the  least  satisfactory  points  in  connection  with 
the  restoration  of  Church  order.  Facts  certainly  do  not 
bear  out  the  theory,  held  by  two  of  our  most  eminent 
historians,6  that  the  practice  of  '  occasional  conformity ' 

1  See  Life  of  Rev.  Anthony  Horneck,  by  Bishop  Kidder. 

2  See  Josiah  Woodward's  Account  of  the  Else  and  Progress  of  the  Reli 
gions  Societies  in  the  City  of  London. 

3  See  Ralph  Thoresby's  Diary,  April  3,  1713. 

4  Letters  from  the  Bodleian,  edited  by  Bliss,  p.  286. 

5  Horneck,  we  are  told,  '  took  indefatigable  pains  on  these  occasions,  but 
was  encouraged  to  do  so  from  the  great  success  his  labours  met  with.' 
(Kidder's  Life.)     Mr.  Plaxton,  the  clergyman  of  the  village  near  Leeds  was 
'  very  commendably  serious  and  industrious  in  his  cure,   and  had  brought 
his  parish  into  an  excellent  order  '  (Thoresby's  Diary) ;  and  the  young  men 
belonging  to  the  Religious  Societies  would  naturally  attend  the  Communions 
established  at  their  own  expense. 

"  Earl  Stanhope  (Reign  of  Queen  Anne,  p.  90)  and  Dr.  Hallam  (Consti 
tutional  History  of  England,  vol.  iii.  p.  248.)  Every  recommendation  of 
bishops  and  others  to  hold  more  frequent  Communion  clearly  implies  that 


I7O          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

and  the  concessions  made  to  conciliate  Puritan  communi 
cants  were  conducive,  even  to  the  increase  of  numbers  at 
that  holy  rite. 

From  the  very  commencement  of  our  period,  the  ques 
tion  of   concessions  to  the  scruples  of  the   Puritans   had 
been   a   moot    point.      On   the    eve    of    the    Eestoration 
Peter  Gunning  refused  the  Holy  Communion  to  a  member 
of  parliament  at  S.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  who  did  not, 
and  would  not,  kneel  to  receive  it.1      Some   years   later, 
Bishop  Frampton  stopped  a  clergyman  from  taking  the 
sacred  elements  round  to  the  pews,  but  all  were  not  so 
strict  as  Gunning  and  Frampton.2     There  were,  no  doubt, 
many  nonconformists,   as  Edmund  Calamy  told  Burnet,3 
who    desired   to    shew   their    friendliness   to   the    Church 
by  occasionally  partaking   of  the  Holy  Eucharist,  before 
the  Test  Act  passed  ;  but  these,  for  the  most  part,  wished 
to  do  so  standing,  and  remaining  in  their  own  pews  ;  and 
many  clergy,  from  an  amiable  desire  to  conciliate,  connived 
at  the  practice.     The  Test  Act  of  1673,  which  forced  non^l 
conformists  either  to  abstain  from  seeking  any  public  office  1 
or  to  become  occasional  conformists,  of  course  increased  \ 
the  number.      This  Test  Act  is  just  one  of  those  many   ' 
Acts  which  were  intended  far  more  for  the  convenience  of 
the  State  than  for  the  benefit  of  the  Church.     It  originated 
in  the  panic  which  arose  from  the  marriage  of  the  Duke  of 
York  with  a  Eomanist,  and  his  Romish  tendencies  generally, 
and   it   may   possibly   have   been   good  policy   to   pass   a 
measure  '  for  preventing  dangers  which  might  happen  from 
popish  recusants.' 4     Perhaps,  also,  the  measure  in  question 

there  were  immense  difficulties  owing  to  the  extreme  paucity  of  attendance. 
See,  inter  alia,  Sancroft's  Injunctions,  quoted  above ;  Nelson's  Life  of 
Bishop  Bull,  Life  of  Dean  Comber,  tract  on  The  Present  State  of  Religion 
in  England,  &c. 

1  MS.  Journal  of  an  M.P.,  Saturday,  May  25,  1661,  quoted  in  Lathbury's 
History  of  Convocation,  p.  297. 

2  Life  of  Bishop  Robert  Frampton  (Evans),  p.  139. 

3  Account  of  My  Own  Life  (1671-1731),  by  Edmund  Calamy,  i.  p.  473. 

4  See  Tindal's  Continuation  of  Rapin,  vol.  xiii.  p.  115. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  l*Jl 

may  have  been  the  only  one  that  could  be  effectual  for  the 
purpose ;  because,  as  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation 
was  an  article  of  faith,  the  Pope  could  grant  no  dispensation 
to  Komanists  to  take  such  a  test.1  But  all  this  is  looking 
at  the  matter  from  a  purely  political  point  of  view.  As 
affecting  Church  order,  the  Test  Act  had  most  disastrous 
effects ;  it  tended  either  to  perpetuate  disorder,  or  to  place 
consistent  clergymen  in  an  awkward  predicament.  It  is 
recorded,  for  example,  as  an  instance  of  the  uncharitable- 
ness  of  Dr.  Hooke,  vicar  of  Halifax,  that  '  he  would  grant 
no  certificates  but  to  kneelers/  one  of  the  first  instances 
(1673)  of  the  Test  Act  being  brought  to  bear  against 
nonconformists.  The  rule,  it  is  added,  was  generally  dis 
pensed  with  by  the  clergy  of  that  time.2  Even  a  bishop 
(Croft  of  Hereford)  boldly  advised  the  clergy  to  dispense 
with  the  rule,  but  it  should  be  added  that  the  book  in 
which  he  did  so  called  forth  much  disapprobation.3  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  rule  was  dispensed  with  in  towns  where 
Puritanism  was  strong ;  Bishop  Cartwright  records  with 
conscious  pride  that  '  at  Northampton,  they  all  came  to  the 
altar  at  my  invitation,  who  had  never  done  it  before,  all 
but  two  men,  one  of  whom  clapped  on  his  hat  and  walked 
out.1 4  But  the  connivance  was  not  successful,  even  as 
regards  numbers,  while  it  tended  to  keep  up  irregularities 
which  in  reality  were  much  more  than  formal. 

The  unsuccessfulness  of  the  attempt  to  draw  people  to 
Holy  Communion  by  indulging  their  scruples  is  all  the 
more  strongly  marked  when  we  contrast  the  infrequency  of 
celebrations  and  the  paucity  of  attendance  at  them,  with 
the  frequency  of  the  other  Church  services.  The  number 

1  History  of  England,  principally  in  the  seventeenth  Century,  by 
Leopold  von  Ranke,  iii.  339. 

-  Hunter's  Life  of  Oliver  Hey  wood,  p.  257. 

8  The  book  was  called,  The  Naked  Truth,  or  True  State  of  the  Primitive 
Church,  by  an  Humble  Moderator  (Herbert  Croft,  Bishop  of  Hereford),  pub 
lished  1675. 

4  Diary  of  Thomas  Cartwright,  Bishop  of  Chester,  1686-7  (Carnden 
Society),  p.  42,  and  note. 


172          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH    1660    1714 

of  week-day  services  and  the  good  attendance  at  them 
must  have  been  among  the  greatest  encouragements  to  the 
restorers  of  Church  order.  Immediately  after  the  Bestora- 
tion  Bishop  Cosin  set  himself  vigorously  to  carry  out  the 
rubric  about  daily  prayer  in  every  part  of  his  diocese,  and 
succeeded,  as  only  a  strong  man  could  have  succeeded,  to 
a  very  remarkable  extent.1  Archdeacon  Basire  warmly  se 
conded  his  chief's  efforts  :  and  Cosin's  son-in-law,  Granville, 
also  archdeacon,  did  the  same,  and  set  the  example  by  strictly 
requiring  of  his  curates  at  Sedgfield  and  Easington,2  'that 
the  Mattins  and  Evensong  shall  be  (according  to  the 
rubrick)  said  dayly,  in  the  chancells  of  each  his  parish 
churches,  throughout  the  year,  without  the  least  variation.' 
In  a  curious  document  respecting  the  church  expenses  at 
Newcastle,  one  item  is,  '  for  candles  in  winter  for  the  daily 
prayer.' 3  Balph  Thoresby  attended  church  regularly  twice 
every  day  at  Leeds,4  and  we  find  from  incidental  notices 
that,  when  he  was  travelling,  he  was  still  able  to  keep  up 
his  habit,  at  least  in  market  towns.5  But  daily  services 
were  also  not  uncommon  in  country  places.  Isaac  Milles 
walked  every  day  to  read  the  service  in  his  parish  church 
at  Highclere,  and  tolled  the  bell  himself.6  Johnson  of 
Cranbrook  'read  the  prayers  every  morning  in  his  church, 
when  at  home.' 7  At  Southwell  '  the  prayers  were  said  three 
times  every  day,' 8  '  at  Brecknock  and  Carmarthen  twice.' 9 
It  was  not  unusual  for  pious  people  to  leave  bequests  to 

1  See  Vita  Joannis  Cosini,  among  the  Vita  qnorundam  Eruditissimorum 
et  ilhistrium  Virorum,  T.  Smith,  1707. 

*  Remains,  Part  II. ,  pp.  129-133. 

3  See  Ambrose  Barnes'  Remains,  Appendix. 

4  See  Diary  for  January  1,  1711,  and  passim. 

b  December  30,  1708.     '  Stamford ;  got  to  church   to  forenoon  prayers 
(Thursday) ; '   and  so  forth.     See  Diary,  passim. 

•  See  Life,  &c. 

7  See  Life  of  Rev.  J.  Johnson,  Vicar  of  Cranbrook,  by  Eev,  T  Brett 
1748. 

6  Tour  of  Great  Britain  (Defoe). 

9  Nelson's  Life  of  Bishop  Bull,  pp.  273-5. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  I  "73 

parishes,  on  condition  that  daily  service  was  performed, 
thus  shewing  that  it  was  a  duty  that  might  be  fairly  ex 
pected  to  be  done.  Morley  did  this  for  Farnham,1  Beveridge 
for  Barrow  and  Mount  Sorrell.2  Bishops  were  in  the 
general  habit  of  insisting  strongly  upon  the  daily  service 
in  their  Charges  and  Pastorals.  Sancroft,3  Sharp,4  Patrick,5 
Stillingfleet,6  all  do  so;  and  Bishop  Turner  uses  terms 
which  are  so  forcible  that  they  are  worth  quoting.  '  Have,' 
he  writes  to  the  clergy  of  his  diocese,  in  1686,  '  as  the 
rubrick  directs,  morning  and  evening  prayer  every  day  of 
the  week  in  your  church  ...  if  by  any  means  in  the  world 
you  can  prevail  with  at  least  a  few  of  your  parishioners, 
which  sure  cannot  be  wanting  in  most  parishes,  where 
there  are  either  some  devout  gentry  and  persons  of  quality, 
or  at  least  some  piously  disposed  people  ;  and  to  all  such  I 
could  almost  kneel,  begging  them  to  do  their  parts  towards 
so  good  a  work,  perhaps  the  best  and  the  most  public  good 
they  can  ever  do  in  the  places  where  they  live  ;  and  where 
there  are  either  poor  widows,  who  may  well  afford  to  be 
at  prayers  for  those  whose  pensioners  they  are ;  or  children 
taught  by  a  schoolmaster  or  mistress,  there  it  is  very  hard 
if  some  little  daily  congregation  might  not  be  found,  would 
but  the  minister  attempt  and  labour  at  it  with  as  much 
application  and  zeal  as  the  thing  itself  mightily  de 
serves.'  7 

The  practical  and  devotional  works  of  the  period  insist 
upon  the  duty  of  daily  worship  in  terms  which  would  have 
been  absurd  if  opportunities  for  daily  worship  had  not 

1  See  White  Rennet's  Case  of  Impropriations,  p.  294. 

2  Life,  prefixed  to  the  Theological  Wotks  of  William  Beveridge,  in  the 
Library  of  Anglo-Catholic  Theology. 

3  See  Sancroft's  Articles  of  1688. 

4  See  Pastoral  Letter  of  Archbishop  SJwrp. 

5  See  Letter  to  the  Clergy  of  the  Diocese  of  Ely,  1692. 

6  See  Bishop  Stillingfieet's  Ecclesiastical  Cases,  relating  to  the  Eights 
and  Duties  of  the  Parochial  Clergy  (1698),  p.  45. 

Letter  to  the  Clergy  of  the  Diocese  of  Ely,  before  his  Visitation,  by 
Bishop  Turner,  1686. 


174         LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

been  general.  Beveridge  and  Patrick,  the  most  popular 
devotional  writers  of  their  day,  assume  over  and  over  again 
that  such  worship  was  accessible,1  and  urge  it  strongly, 
as  they  could  do  with  a  particularly  good  grace,  since  they 
had  both,  the  one  at  S.  Peter's,  Cornhill,  the  other  at  S. 
Paul's,  Covent  Garden,  faithfully  carried  out  the  Church's 
rule  themselves,  and  with  eminent  success.  Nelson,  in  his 
'Practice  of  Piety,'  gives  as  one  rule,  'Attend  the  daily 
services  of  the  Church,'  thus  implying  that  they  were" gene 
rally  accessible.  And  so  they  were.  At  S.  Martin's  in 
the  Fields  (owing  to  the  benevolence  of  that  pious  layman, 
Dr.  Willis)  and  at  S.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden,  besides  the 
ordinary  daily  services  at  10  and  3,  which  were  well 
attended  by  people  of  leisure,  there  were  early  and  late 
services  at  6  a.m.  and  8  p.m.,  for  the  benefit  of  people  of 
business  and  domestic  servants,  both  of  which  were  well 
frequented.2  Chamberlayne  tells  us  that  there  were  *  prayers 
thrice  every  day  at  the  King's  Chappell,' 3  and  Hutton  that 
the  same  custom  prevailed  at  S.  Andrew's  (Holborn  ?)  in 
1708.4  A  great  impetus  was  given  to  daily  worship  in  the 
London  churches  by  the  members  of  the  Eeligious  Societies, 
who  not  only  supported  the  services  with  their  purses,  but 
took  care  that  there  should  be  a  congregation  by  their 
constant  attendance.5  An  anonymous  writer  in  1709,  says 
'  it  is  a  great  ease  and  comfort  to  good  Christians  within 
these  cities  of  London  and  Westminster  and  the  suburbs, 
that  in  most  churches  there  be  constant  prayers  morning 

1  See  Beveridge's  Great  Necessity  and  Advantage  of  Public,  Prayer. 
Patrick's  Discourse  concerning  Prayer ;  Work  of  the  Ministry ;   Treatise  of 
Repentance,  &c. 

2  See  Autobiography  of  Simon  Patrick,  p.  20,  and  Life  of  Henry  Ham 
mond,  prefixed  to  his  Practical  Catechism,  in  the  Library  of  Anglo-Catholic 
Theology,  p.  ex.  note. 

3  Anglia  Notitice,  p.  135. 

4  Button's  New  Vieiv,  ii.  118,  quoted  in  Plume's  Life  of  Bishop)  Hacket, 
Mackenzie  Walcott's  edition,  p.  29,  note. 

*  See  Josiah  Woodward,  ut  supra. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  175 

and  evening.  These  are  supported  by  particular  benefac 
tions  or  voluntary  contributions.'  l  '  Most  churches '  is  rather 
too  strong  an  expression ;  but  when  Paterson  published 
his  *  Pietas  Londinensis  '  in  1714,  he  could  specify  sixty-five 
out  of  two  hundred  and  four  churches  in  which  there  were 
daily  prayers,  while  at  the  great  majority  of  the  remainder 
there  were  at  least  prayers  on  Wednesdays  and  Fridays. 
The  6  a.m.  prayers  seem  to  have  been  especially  well 
attended,  though,  if  the  '  Guardian  '  is  to  be  trusted,  not 
always  in  the  most  reverent  fashion.2  Even  as  early  as 
1664  they  existed,  for  Pepys  records,  '  July  14,  1664.  In 
Fleet  Street,  hearing  a  psalm  sung,  I  went  into  S.  Dunstan's 
and  there  heard  prayers  read,  which,  it  seems,  is  done  there 
every  morning  at  6  o'clock.'  This  part  of  our  subject  may 
be  appropriately  concluded  with  the  words  of  one  who 
more,  perhaps,  than  any  other  man,  contributed  to  the 
revival  of  this  pious  and  canonical  practice  of  daily  prayer  : 
'  Blessed  be  God,'  writes  Beveridge,  *  He  hath  opened  the 
eyes  of  many,  especially  in  this  city  [London],  who  now  see 
the  things  that  belong  to  their  everlasting  peace,  and 
therefore  are  as  constant  at  their  public  devotions  daily  as 
at  their  private  business.'3 

Another  point  of  Church  order  for  the  restoration  of 
which  vigorous  efforts  were  made  during  the  whole  of  our 
period  was  public  catechising,  according  to  the  fifty-ninth 
canon.  The  Low  Church  bishops  insisted  upon  this  duty  as 
strongly  as  their  High  Church  brethren ;  Burnet,4  Tenison,5 


1  Defence  of  the  Church  and  Clergy  of  England,  p.  34. 

2  See  No.  65,  by  Steele. 

3  The  Great  Necessity  and  Advantage  of  Public  Prayer  and  Frequent 
Communion,  p.  494. 

4  See  A  Discourse  of  the  Pastoral  Care,  pp.  187-8. 

5  Among  the  Injunctions  he  drew  up  in  the  name  of  the  king  (1G95),  to 
be  given  to  the  Bishops  and  rest  of  the  Clergy,  No.  14  is  that  Catechising 
be  duly  performed  according  to  the  5$th  Canon,  and  he  enlarges  upon  the 
duty. 


1 76          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

and  Compton,1  no  less  than  Ken,2  Turner,3  Beveridge,4  and 
Patrick.5  But  there  was  considerable  difficulty  in  carrying 
it  out.  The  Puritan  party  in  the  Church  regarded  no 
service  as  complete  without  a  sermon,  and  could  by  no 
means  be  persuaded  that  '  catechising  is  often  the  best  and 
most  useful  sort  of  preaching,'  and  that  'the  sermon  ought 
not  to  jostle  this  out.' 6  As  a  protest  against  this  excessive 
love  of  sermons,  others  preferred  the  prayers  and  nothing 
else  ;  and  hence  catechising  found  opponents  from  opposite 
quarters.  And  then,  if  the  ministers  were  ready,  the  people 
were  not.  '  One  might,'  says  a  writer  often  quoted,  '  as 
well  prevail  with  some  masters  of  families  to  sacrifice  their 
charge  to  Moloch,  as  to  send  them  to  church  to  be  cate 
chised.'  7  '  As  to  catechising,'  writes  Bishop  Stillingfleet 
to  Archbishop  Tenison  in  reference  to  the  king's  Injunc 
tions  in  1694,  '  it  would  be  very  well  to  have  a  warm  in 
junction  about  it ;  but  what  if  people  will  not  send  their 
children  ?  ' 8  Dean  Sherlock,  though  he  is  of  opinion  that 
'  no  great  good  can  be  expected  till  public  catechising  be 
revived,'  admits  that  the  fault  lay  mainly  with  the  people, 
who  \vould  not  send  their  children  and  servants.9  Still  there 
was  clearly  a  marked  advance  in  this  as  in  other  matters, 
as  time  went  on.  In  the  early  years  after  the  Bestoration 

1  See  Episcopalia,  or  Letters  of  Henry,  Bishop  of  London,  to  the  Clergy  of 
his  Diocese,  1686.     In  First  Letter,  1679,  he  says  '  the  want  of  catechising 
has  left  the  Church  without  a  foundation.' 

2  See  Hawkins'  Life,  prefixed  to  Ken's  Prose  Works,  ed.  by  Round,  p.  7. 

3  Letter  to  the  Clergy  of  the  Diocese  of  Ely  before  his  Visitation,  by 
Bishop  Turner,  1686. 

4  See  Life,  prefixed  to  Private  Thoughts  ;  also  Church  Catechism  ex 
plained  for  the  use  of  Diocese  of  S.  Asaph  dedicated  to  the  Clergy   of  the 
Diocese. 

5  See  Work  of  the  Ministry  represented  to  the  Clergy  of  Ely  (1698),  p. 
52. 

See  a  tract  entitled  A  true  Notion  of  the  Worship  of  God,  or  a  Vindi- 
cat  on  of  the  Service  of  the  Church  of  England  (published  1673). 
Representation  of  the  State  of  Christianity  in  England,  1674. 
Miscellaneous  Discourses  of  Bishop  E.  Stillingfleet. 
Practical  Discourse  of  Religious  Assemblies,  p.  197  (published  1681). 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER 

the  tone  of  the  advocates  of  catechising  is  more  de 
spondent  than  it  is  later  on.  Thus,  the  king's  '  Directions 
concerning  preachers  '  in  1662  can  only  express  a  faint  hope 
that  *  the  afternoon's  exercise  '  might  sometimes  be  cate 
chetical.  A  year  or  two  later  both  Granville  and  Basire 
complain  that  catechising  '  hath  been  shamefully  neglected.' l 
Pepys  in  1663  records  with  evident  disgust :  '  Mr.  Milles 
preached  a  sleepy  sermon  on  catechising,  which,  I  perceive, 
he  means  to  introduce.'  Sherlock  of  Winwick  writes  in  a 
desponding  tone  on  the  subject  in  1661. -  Lancelot  Addison 
in  1674  'cannot  but  with  deep  resentment  observe  that 
since  the  time  God  turned  again  our  captivity,  and  restored 
this  Church  to  the  free  use  of  His  ordinances,  catechising 
has  met  with  but  cold  entertainment  from  those  by  whom 
it  ought  to  have  been  most  lovingly  caressed.' 3  But  eight 
years  later,  Thoresby  who  still  retained  the  Puritan's  love 
of  sermons,  '  could  hear  of  no  sermon  after  dinner  through 
out  the  country,'  and  so  was  forced  to  go  and  hear  '  the 
town  minister  catechise,'  and  was  much  pleased  with  what 
lie  heard ; 4  and  in  1704  Beveridge,  writing  to  the  clergy  of 
his  new  diocese  (S.  Asaph)  to  urge  catechising,  adds, 
'  not  as  if  I  thought  this  duty  had  been  neglected  among 
you;  for  I  have  heard  to  my  great  comfort  that  it  is 
generally  practised  throughout  the  diocese  every  Lord's 
day.' 5  Samuel  Wesley  in  1709  required  his  curate  to 
catechise  at  Epworth  every  Sunday,  as  a  matter  of  course  ; 6 
though  a  few  years  earlier  he  had  complained  that  '  the 
people  had  grown  too  proud,  and  thought  themselves  too 
wise  to  be  satisfy'd,  or  "  put  off,"  as  they'd  be  ready  to  call 
it,  with  catechising.' 7  Catechising  in  Lent  had  been  very 

1  Granville,  Remains,  Part  II.,  p.  17. 

-  See  Catechism  of  the  Church  of  England  paraphrased,  by  B.  Sherlock. 

3  The  Primitive  Institution,  &c.  p.  77.  '  Diary,  Nov.  12,  1682. 

5  Dedication  of  the  Church  Cathechism  explained  &c.,  to  the  Clergy  of 
the  Diocese. 

6  See  Tyerman's  Life  and  Times  of  S.  Wesley,  p.  387. 

7  Athenian  Oracle,  p.  33. 

N 


i;8          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

general  from  the  commencement  of  our  period,  and  it 
became  more  and  more  usual  on  every  Sunday  afternoon, 
as  years  rolled  on. 

Another  point  of  order  to  which  great  attention  was 
paid  was  the  regulation  of  what  were  called  the  '  Pulpit 
Prayers.'  If  it  be  thought  that  an  exaggerated  importance 
was  attached  to  this  point,  it  should  be  remembered  that 
a  considerable  number  of  the  clergy  after  the  Kestoration, 
being  '  conformists  '  rather  than  churchmen,  were  inclined 
to  indemnify  themselves  for  using  a  service  which  they 
disliked,  by  expatiating  at  their  own  sweet  will  in  'con 
ceived  prayers '  before  and  after  sermon ;  they  would  even 
curtail  the  service  in  order  to  gain  time  for  this  more  con 
genial  exercise.  One  clergyman  in  the  diocese  of  Gloucester 
had  the  audacity  to  excuse  himself  to  Bishop  Frampton, 
(of  all  men  in  the  world !)  for  such  curtailment  on  the  plea 
that  '  the  length  of  the  service  hindered  him  from  praying 
in  the  pulpit  so  long  as  he  would/  l  It  should  be  remembered, 
too,  that  this  was  an  old  grievance,  dating  from  before  the 
time  of  the  Kebellion.2  It  was  evidently  a  subject  that  re 
quired  very  delicate  handling.  We  find,  immediately  after 
the  Kestoration,  the  bishops  arguing  that  the  liturgy  was  no 
grievance,  because  '  ministers  are  not  denied  the  use  and 
exercise  of  their  gifts  in  praying  before  and  after  sermon, 
although,'  they  add  rather  feebly,  '  such  praying  be  but  the 
continuance  of  a  custom  of  no  great  antiquity.'  In  1661 
a  committee  was  appointed  in  the  Lower  House  of  Convoca 
tion  '  to  compile  a  prayer  before  sermon ;  '  and  in  the  same 
year  the  Upper  House  unanimously  agreed 3  to  authorise  one 
form  of  prayer  before  and  after  sermon ;  but  the  matter, 

1  Life  of  Bishop  Frampton  (Evans),  p.  134. 

2  See  Heylin  on  Bidding  Prayer,  written  1637. 

3  Lathbury  (History  of  Convocation,  p.  288),  says  '  almost  unanimously,' 
but  the  Journal  of  the  Upper  House  says, '  Eeverendi  Patres  unanimi  consensu 
et  assensu  in  votis  dederunt  pro  unica  forma  Precum  tarn  ante  quam  post 
Sermonem  sive  orationem  prsedicatam,  usitanda  et  observanda  per  ministros 
intra  Provinciam  Canterburiensem.' 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  179 

writes  Kennet,  was  'afterwards  dropped  upon  prudential 
reasons.' !  The  '  prudential  reasons  '  were  probably  a  desire 
to  give  scope  for  what  many,  both  ministers  and  people, 
valued  highly,  '  the  conceived  prayer/  Sometimes  the 
prayers  before  and  after  sermon  were  longer  than  the  whole 
church  service.  Even  so  late  as  1675,  a  published  sermon 
has  a  '  prayer  before  sermon  '  prefixed  to  it,  four  pages  long. 
A  Dr.  Samwaies  complains  to  Dean  Granville  that  many  are 
'  so  passionately  addicted  to  a  sermon  ushered  in  with  a 
private  prayer,  that  they  will  not  endure  to  be  present  at 
our  assemblies  till  that  prayer  be  begun.' 2  There  was  of 
course  a  strong  feeling  also  on  the  other  side.  Bishop 
Cosin,  who  generally  managed  to  carry  his  point,  almost 
banished  the  pulpit  prayers  from  the  diocese  of  Durham.3 
Dean  Granville  calls  Bidding  of  Prayer  '  the  very  criterion 
of  a  true  Church  of  England  man,' 4  and  devoted  himself  to 
substituting  it  for  the  pulpit  prayers  with  an  energy  only 
second  to  that  which  he  shewed  in  establishing  the  weekly 
celebration  in  every  Cathedral.  At  his  persuasion,  Beveridge 
adopted  the  Bidding  Prayer  at  S.  Peter's,  Cornhill,  and 
Beveridge's  reputation  was  so  great  that  the  precedent  was 
sure  to  be  followed  by  many.  The  Dean  of  Westminster 
(Steward)  wrote  a  tract  with  the  significant  title,  '  The  old 
Puritan  detected,'  the  object  of  which  was  to  put  a  stop  to 
pulpit  prayers,  and  which  made  a  considerable  sensation. 
There  were,  however,  many  whose  churchmanship  was 
unimpeachable,  who  regularly  used  pulpit  prayers.  For 
instance,  Bishop  Wilson's  prayers  before  sermon  were  es 
pecially  admired  when  he  preached  in  London,  particularly 
when  he  prayed  for  those  who  never  prayed  for  themselves.5 
Evelyn  tells  us  that  Archbishop  Sharp's  prayer  before 
sermon  when  he  preached  at  the  Temple  in  1696  was  one 

1  Register,  576.  2  Granville's  Remains,  Part  II.,  p.  80. 

3  The  Dead  Man's  real  Speech.     Funeral  Sermon  on  Bishop  Cosin,  by 
Archdeacon  Basire. 

4  Remains,  Part  I.,  p.  179.  5  Cruttwell's  Life,  p.  58. 

N  2 


I  So          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

of  the  most  excellent  compositions  he  ever  heard.1  Bishop 
Hacket '  never  practised  Bidding  of  Prayer  before  sermon.' 2 
Prayers  before  and  after  sermon  composed  by  Jeremy 
Taylor  are  still  extant.  Like  almost  all  Church  questions 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  it  became  mixed  up  with 
politics.  The  fifty-fifth  canon  required  that  the  sovereign 
should  be  prayed  for  with  his  name  and  titles ;  and  this 
frequently  became  a  test  of  loyalty.  In  1687,  when  the 
clergy  were  alarmed  about  Komanism,  Bishop  Cartwright, 
who  was  a  tool  of  James  II.,  tells  us  that  on  one  occasion 
he  admonished  the  clergyman  *  to  amend  his  prayer  in 
which  he  gave  not  the  king  his  titles,  and  to  be  wary  of 
reflecting  so  imprudently  as  he  did  upon  the  king's  re 
ligion  ; ' 3  and  that  on  another  he  *  chid  Mr.  Turner  for  his 
extempore  prayer.'  In  1695  Archbishop  Tenison  wrote  to 
the  bishops  of  his  Province  that  *  they  should  require  their 
clergy  not  to  leave  out  the  king's  titles ; ' 4  and  in  1706, 
Bishop  Rennet,  at  his  Visitation  at  Huntingdon,  hopes  the 
clergy  '  will  pray  for  the  Princess  Sophia  in  their  pulpit 
prayers.'  A  little  earlier  a  correspondent  of  the  'Athenian 
Oracle '  inquires  why,  in  the  pulpit  prayers,  the  name  and 
titles  of  the  king  were  neglected,  and  receives  in  reply  a 
snub,  to  the  effect  that '  either  the  gentleman  cannot  go 
to  church,  or  goes  where  there  is  a  Jacobite  minister.' 5 
Pepys,  in  the  early  part  of  our  period,6  and  the  *  Spectator,' 
towards  its  close,7  make  some  rather  captious  remarks  on 
the  introduction  of  other  names  into  the  pulpit  prayers, 
as  if  it  were  done  for  ostentation.  In  the  Church  revival 
of  Queen  Anne's  days,  the  Bidding  Prayer  came  more  into 
use,  to  the  great  disgust  of  more  than  one  Low  Church 


1  Diary  for  April  26,  1696.  2  Plume's  Life,  p.  100. 

3  Diary  of  Thomas  Cartwright,  Bishop  of  Chester,  1686-7    (Camden 
Society),  p.  30. 

4  See  Kennet's  History  of  England,  iii.  p.  714. 

5  Athenian  Oracle,  p.  406. 

6  Diary,  March  166§,  also  Dec.  23,  1666.  7  No.  312. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  l3l 

bishop ;  l  but  by  the  close  of  the  reign  the  custom  of  using 
either  a  collect,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  or  a  short  prayer 
of  the  nature  of  a  collect,  had  become  pretty  general,  and 
continued  to  be  so  all  through  the  eighteenth  century. 

The  disuse  of  chancels,  especially  when  there  was  no 
celebration,  was  another  disorder  which  required  to  be 
rectified.  From  an  interesting  tract  written  in  1683, 
it  would  appear  that  it  was  '  the  custom  of  most  parish 
churches  to  read  the  second  service  at  the  desk.' 2  The 
writer  combats  the  reasons  given  for  so  doing,  among 
others  the  very  ridiculous  one  that  '  it  is  indecent  for  the 
priest  to  go  out  of  the  desk  to  the  altar  with  his  surplice 
on.'  A  furious  reply,  which  makes  up  by  strong  language 
for  weak  arguments,  immediately  appeared,  declaring  that 
the  custom  was  general  since  the  Reformation,  that  the 
Bishop  of  London  did  not  disapprove  of  it,  and  that  '  Pro 
testants  were  jealous  of  such  needless  motions,  passes  and 
repasses,'  and  thought  them  'papistical.'3  Among  many 
disorders  complained  of  in  the  diocese  of  Exeter  about  the 
same  time,  one  was  that  the  '  Communion  Service  in  very 
many  churches  was  not  read  at  the  Table.' 4  The  Bishop  of 
Lincoln  (Gardiner),  in  his  Visitation  Charge  in  1697,  implies 
that  in  his  diocese  the  chancels  were  often  not  used  even 
when  there  was  a  celebration,  for  he  appeals  to  his  clergy 
whether  they  did  not  '  find  great  inconvenience  in  conse 
crating  in  so  strait  a  place  as  an  alley  of  the  church, 

1  See  Life  of  Bishop  White  Kennet,  p.  127,  and  Bishop  Trimnell's  Visi 
tation  CJiarge  at  Norwich  in  1710. 

'*  Parish  Churches  turned  into  Conventicles  by  serving  God  therein 
otherwise  than  according  to  the  Church  of  England  ;  in  particular  by  reading 
the  Communion  Service  or  any  part  thereof  in  the  desk ;  or  Plain  Reasons 
for  the  reading  of  the  second  service,  where  there  is  no  Communion,  at  the 
Altar  or  Holy  Table,  in  an  Epistle  dedicated  to  all  Clergy  who  read  it  at  the 
desk,  by  Rd.  Hart,  1683. 

3  Parish  Churches  no  Conventicles  from  Ministers  reading  in  the  desk 
when  there  is  no  Communion,  by  O.U.     An  answer  to  the  pamphlet  [above] 
pretended  to  be  written  by  R.  Hart,  but  really  by  T.  A.,  Barrister-at-law. 
1G83. 

4  See  Tanner  MSS.t  29,  71. 


1 82          LTFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

and  delivering  the  bread  and  wine  in  narrow  seats,  over  the 
heads,  and  treading  upon  the  feet  of  those  that  kneel.'  It 
need  scarcely  he  said  that  the  position  of  the  Holy  Table 
wras  an  old  subject  of  discussion,  as  the  last  rubric  at  the 
commencement  of  our  Communion  Service  still  shews.  The 
Holy  Table  itself  was  sometimes  treated  with  painful  ir 
reverence.  Bishop  Cosin,  in  the  Articles  of  Inquiry  at  his 
Visitation  in  1662,  asks  the  churchwardens,  '  Are  you  con 
fident  that  none  sit,  lean,  or  lay  their  hats  upon  the 
Communion  Table  ? ' l  Dean  Granville  put  two  boys  in  the 
Correction-house  for  playing  at  cards  on  the  Communion 
Table 2  in  1681,  and  the  story  of  the  people  who  stood  upon 
the  Communion  Table  at  Canterbury  to  look  at  the  Princess 
Mary  is  another  illustration. 

This  last  point  is  part  of  a  larger  subject, — that  of  irre 
verent  behaviour  in  church  generally.  But  in  dealing  with 
the  subject  we  must  be  upon  our  guard  against  applying  the 
standard  of  the  nineteenth  century  to  the  habits  of  the  seven 
teenth.  For  instance,  it  seems  very  sad  to  think  that  the 
restorers  of  Church  order  had  to  wage  incessant  war  against 
the  habit  of  wearing  the  hat  during  divine  service,  or  at  any 
rate,  during  parts  of  it.3  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  hat  was  not  infrequently  worn  indoors  during  the  seven 
teenth  century.  Pepys  evidently  considered  it  an  unneces 
sary  piece  of  strictness  to  insist  upon  the  bare  head  in  church, 
for  he  tells  us  contemptuously  how  he  heard  *  a  simple 

1  Bishop  Cosin's  Works,  vol.  iv.     (Library  of  Anglo -Catholic  Theology.) 

2  Remains,  Part  II.,  p.  70. 

3  One  of  the  articles  of  inquiry  at  Bishop  Hacket's  second  Triennial  Visi 
tation  in  16G8  is,  '  Do  your  parishioners  behave  reverently  in  church,  men 
and  youths  with  their  hats  off?  '     Bishop  Cosin,  in  his  Primary  Visitation 
of  Durham  Cathedral,  1662,  speaks  of  '  some  who  come  into  the  quire  in 
their  furre  and  nightgowns,  and  sit  with  their  hats  on  their  heads  at  the 
reading  of   the  lessons.'     In  1689  King  William  '  gave  great    offence   be 
cause  he  would  wear  his  hat  in  church,  and  if  he  ever  uncovered  it  during 
the  Liturgy,  always  resumed  it  when  the  sermon  began.'     See  also  Life  of 
Bishop   Lake,  who  pulled   off  the  people's  hats  in  York  Minster   during 
divine  service. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  183 

fellow  [in  a  sermon],  exclaiming  against  men's  wearing  their 
hats  on  in  church.' l  Again,  in  no  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century  was  the  reverence  due  to  sacred  places  recognised 
to  anything  like  the  same  extent  that  it  is  now.  The  mere 
mention  of  '  Paul's  Walk '  is  a  witness  of  this.2  When, 
then,  we  read  of  '  the  ill  custom  of  walking  in  the  hody  of 
York  Minster  during  divine  service,' 3  of  the  vergers  at  West 
minster  Abbey  ordering  the  organs  to  strike  up  to  put 
a  stop  to  Isaac  Barrow's  inordinately  long  sermon,4  or  of 
half  the  congregation  at  S.  Lawrence  Jewry  taking  fright 
at  the  odd  and  slovenly  appearance  of  the  same  great 
preacher,  and  rushing  out  of  church  with  a  loud  clatter,5 
or  of  the  Holy  Communion  at  Whitehall  being  interrupted 
by  *  the  rude  breaking  in  of  multitudes  zealous  to  hear  the 
second  sermon  by  the  Bishop  of  Bath  and  WTells '  (Ken),6  or 
of  Burnet  *  rising  from  his  knees,  sitting  down  in  his  stall, 
and  making  an  ugly  noise  with  his  mouth  '  when  poor 
King  James  was  prayed  for,  in  December  1688, 7  or  of 
Burnet  himself  being  interrupted  while  preaching  by  loud 
*  hums '  of  applause,  we  must  not  suppose  that  such 
conduct  implied  the  same  degree  of  irreverence  that  it 
would  do  now.  Bad  behaviour  in  church  was,  however,  a 
recognised  evil8  which  the  restorers  of  Church  order  en 
deavoured,  and  not  without  success,  to  remedy. 

1  In  Diary  for  Nov.  17,  1661.     Also  Diary  for  Jan.  21,  16{g. 

2  '  It  was  the  fashion  of  those  times  (James  I.)  and  did  so  continue  till 
these  (1658),  for  the  principal  gentry,  lords,  courtiers,  and  men  of  all  pro 
fessions,  not  merely  mechanicks,  to  meet  in  S.  Paul's  Church  by  11,  and 
walk  in  the  middle  isle  till  12,  and  after  dinner  from  3  to  6  ;  during  which 
time  some  discoursed  of  business,  others  of  news.'     (Osborne's  Traditional 
Memoirs  of  the  reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  James.}    See  also  Microcosmography ', 
by  Bishop  Earle,  1628,  on  PauVs  Walk,  pp.  116-9. 

3  Life  of  John  Lake,  Lord  Bishop  of  Chiehester. 

4  See  Life  of  Seth  Ward,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  by  Dr.  Pope  (1697),  p. 
148. 

5  Id.  p.  139.  6  Evelyn's  Diary. 

7  Correspondence  of  Henry  Hyde,  Earl  of  Clarendon,  ii.  218. 

8  See  Bishop  Cosin's  and  other  prelates'  Visitation  CJmrges  and  Articles 
of  Inquiry,  passim  ;  Atterbury's  Sermons  ;  Diary  of  Bishop  Cartivright  ; 
Swift,  Sermon  on  Sleeping  in  Church,  vol.  viii.  in  Scott's  edition,  &c. 


184          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

Church  Psalmody  was  naturally  a  point  which  attracted 
considerable  attention  in  connection  with  the  restoration  of 
Church  order.  No  part  of  the  church  furniture  had  suffered 
more  severely  in  the  devastation  of  the  Puritans  than  the 
organs.  The  erection  of  an  organ  in  the  chapel  of  S. 
John's  College,  Oxford,  was  considered  a  decisive  proof  of 
Laud's  popish  tendencies,1  and  Milton  was  quite  an  excep 
tion  among  the  Puritans  in  his  love  of  this  species  of  church 
music.2  Even  churchmen  were  not  quite  agreed  upon  the 
point.  Jeremy  Taylor  gives  but  a  reluctant  permission  to 
the  use  of  organs  in  churches.3  Stillingfleet  was  of  opinion 
that '  harmonious  voices  were  sweeter  when  unaccompanied/ 
and  that  '  fiddles  and  flutes,  and  harpsichords  even,  in  some 
people's  opinion,  could  never  be  accommodated  to  purposes 
of  devotion.' 4  But  he  adds,  *  I  see  no  objection  to  the  thing 
itself '  (instrumental  music),  and  some  years  later  (1698,  the 
'  Dialogues  '  were  in  1686),  he  defended  *  the  use  of  organical 
music  in  the  public  service  against  the  charge  of  its  being 
a  Levitical  service.' 5  It  was  more  frequently  charged  with 
having  a  popish  tendency.  Both  charges  were  answered, 
it  need  hardly  be  said,  with  immense  learning,  by  Henry 
Dodwell  in  his  treatise  '  Of  the  Lawfulness  of  Instrumental 
Musick  in  Holy  Offices,'  written  in  1698,  owing  to  a  dispute 

1   See  Dean  Hook's  Life  of  Laud,  p.  42.  2  See  II  Penseroso. 

3  See  his  Ductor  Dubitantium,  and  Heber's  Life,  prefixed  to  his  edition  of 
Taylor's  Works,  p.  cclxxxviii.     The  passage  is  quoted  and  answered  in  the 
preface  to  Dodwell,  Of  Instrumental  Music,  p.  69  &c. 

4  See  On  the  Amusements  of  Clergymen  and  Christians  in  general ;  three 
Dialogues  between  a  Dean  and  a  Curate,  by  E.  Stillingfleet,  Lord  Bishop  of 
Worcester,  2nd  Dialogue.     The  Bishop  (then  Dean)  is  speaking  of  singing  at 
home,  but  his  objections  seem  quite  as  applicable  to  the  church. 

5  Bishop  Stillingfleet's  Ecclesiastical  Cases  relating  to  the  Rights  and 
Duties  of  Parochial  Clergy,  p.  382.     But  even-  here  he  speaks  rather  hesi 
tatingly,  and  without  any  enthusiasm  in  favour  of  the  practice.     '  The  use  of 
organical  music  in  the  Public  Service,  if  it  intends  to  compose  and  settle, 
and  raise  the  spirits  of  men  in  the  acts  of  worship,  I  see  no  reason  can  be 
brought  against  it.     They  who  call  it  a  Levitical  service  can  never  prove  it 
to  be  ary  of  the  Typical  Ceremonies,  unless  they  can  shew  what  was  repre 
sented  by  it.' 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  185 

which  had  arisen  on  the  setting  up  of  a  new  organ  at  Tiverton 
in  1696.  In  the  same  year  Gabriel  Towerson  preached  a 
sermon  '  concerning  vocal  and  instrumental  music  in  the 
church  '  at  the  opening  of  a  new  organ  at  S.  Andrew  Under- 
shaft.  The  erection  had  evidently  met  with  opposition,  for, 
after  speaking  of  vocal  music,  the  preacher  proceeds,  *  I 
must  not  expect  to  pass  on  so  smoothly  while  I  deliver  my 
opinion  concerning  that  singing  and  making  melody  which 
is  attended  with  that  of  musical  instruments.'  l  The  reintro- 
duction  of  the  organ  into  churches  was  gradual.  Within  a 
month  of  the  Kestoration,  Pepys  records,  '  This  day  the 
organs  did  begin  to  play  before  the  king  ; ' 2  and  on  November 

4,  1660,  '  To  the  Abbey,  where  the  first  time  that  I  ever 
heard  the  organs  in  a  Cathedral ; '  and  on  April  4,  1667, 
'  To  Hackney.  Here  I  was  told  that  at  their  church  they  have 
a  fair  pair  of  organs  which  play  while  the  people  sing,  which 
I  am  mighty   glad  of,  wishing  the  like  at  our  church  in 
London,  and  would  give  501.  towards  it.'     But  the  organ 
was  not  the  only  instrument  that  was  used  in  churches. 
We  hear  of  cornets  in  Westminster  Abbey  in  1667,  of  fiddlers 
in  red  vests  in  the  same  church,  of  wind  music  at  Durham,3 
and  of  the  fiddlers  being  expelled  by  the  queen  (Mary)  from 

5.  James'  Chapel  Koyal  in  1689.     By  the  time  of  Queen 
Anne,  the  lawfulness,  and  even  the  desirableness,  of  instru 
mental  music  in  church  was  fairly  established  ;  and  we  hear 
little  or  nothing  on  the  subject  during  that  reign. 

But  another  difference  of  opinion  in  connection  with 
Church  psalmody  arose,  on  the  publication  of  the  New 
Version  of  the  Psalms,  and  the  quasi-authorisation  of  its 
optional  use  given  by  the  King  in  Council  in  1696.  Of  course, 
with  good  churchmen  this  would  be  a  very  questionable 


1  He  also  refers  to  the  '  Levitical '  objection.  '  Foreign  writers,  especially 
Calvin,  look  on  Instrumental  Music  as  a  rudiment  of  the  Law,'  &c. 

-'  Diary  for  June  17,  1660. 

3  See  Traditions  and  Customs  of  Cathedrals,  by  Mackenzie  Walcott, 
p.  145. 


1 86          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

authority,  Convocation  never  having  been  consulted.  But 
apart  from  this  irregularity,  the  question  was  discussed  on 
its  own  merits.  Beveridge  threw  all  the  weight  of  his  very 
great  authority  into  the  scale  of  the  old  Version,  partly 
because  it  was  old,  partly  because  it  was  more  intelligible  to 
the  common  people,  and  partly  because  it  had  been  conferred 
with  the  Hebrew,  which  the  new  had  not  been.1  The 
struggle  between  the  two  Versions  lasted  far  beyond  the  limits 
of  our  period,  but  it  is  curious  to  observe  that  few  people 
found  fault  with  the  poetry  of  Tate  and  Brady.  Beveridge 
indeed  seems  to  have  thought  that  it  was  only  too  good. 
'  The  style,'  he  says, '  is  brisk  and  lively,  and  flourished  here 
and  there  with  wit  and  fancy,' — an  objection  in  which  he  will 
not  carry  many  modern  readers  along  with  him.  Samuel 
Wesley  evidently  considered  the  new  infinitely  superior  to 
the  old  as  a  composition,  but  tells  his  curate  at  Epworth 
that  '  they  must  be  content  with  their  grandsire  Sternhold.' 
He  agrees  with  Beveridge  that  the  common  people  would 
understand  it  better,  'for,'  he  adds  caustically,  '  they  have 
a  strange  genius  at  understanding  nonsense.' 2  Tom  Brown, 
who  may  be  supposed  to  represent  a  certain  type  of  lay 
opinion,  has  some  doggerel  verses  on  the  two  versions  which 
begin  with  apostrophising  Sternhold  and  Hopkins  with 
more  force  than  politeness  as 

Ye  scoundrel  old  bards  and  a  brace  of  dull  knaves, 
and  end 

I'm  not  such  a  coxcomb,  'stead  of  new  psalms  to  learn  old, 
Or  to  quit  Tate  and  Brady  for  Hopkins  and  Sternhold.3 

The  idea  of  any  '  tertium  quid  '  seems  to  have  entered  into 
no  man's  thoughts.  With  the  exception  of  Jeremy  Taylor  and 

1  Defence  of  the  Books  of  Psalms  collected  into  English  Metre,  by  Stern- 
hold  and  Hopkins,  with  Critical  Observations  on  the  late  New  Version,  com 
pared  with  the  old,  by  W.  Beveridge,  late  Bishop  of  S.  Asaph,  1710. 

2  See  his  Letter  to  a  Curate,  inserted  in  Tyerman's  Life  and  Times  of 
Samuel  Wesley,  pp.  382-7. 

8  See  The  Works  of  Mr.  Thomas  Brown,  iv.  p.  64. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  187 

Dean  Hickes,  no  writer  suggests  the  use  of  hymns,  and  it  is 
doubtful  whether  even  Taylor  meant  them  to  be  used  in  the 
public  service  ; ]  at  any  rate,  his  own  spiritual  songs  are  not 
all  adapted  for  that  purpose,  though  he  did  write  '  eucha- 
ristical  hymns.'  Anthems,  of  course,  were  used  in  the  Cathe 
drals  and  the  Chapels  Royal,  but  in  the  parish  churches  the 
choice  lay  simply  between  the  old  and  new  versions,  and 
the  balance  of  opinion  was  decidedly  in  favour  of  the  old. 
The  attachment  of  churchmen  to  Sternhold  and  Hopkins 
is  curious,  considering  that  the  version  was  the  offspring 
of  Puritanism  ;  but  it  was  quickly  deserted  by  its  parent  and 
adopted  by  his  foe. 

The  difficulties  connected  with  Church  psalmody  which 
met  the  restorers  of  Church  order  were  not  confined  to  the 
introduction  of  instrumental  music,  and  the  choice  between 
the  old  and  the  new  versions.  Dean  Sherlock  in  1681 
refers  with  great  regret  to  the  '  universal  practice  of  sitting 
when  we  sing  the  Psalms,' 2  a  slovenly  habit  which  it 
appears  to  have  been  very  hard  to  change.  Then,  again, 
having  got  their  organs  and  other  instruments  back  again 
into  church,  the  performers  seem  to  have  been  inclined  to 
run  riot  with  their  newly  regained  treasure.  The  '  Spec 
tator  '  complains  that  the  solemn  thoughts  suggested  by  the 
sermon  were  driven  out  of  his  head  by  the  merry  jig  notes 
which  followed  on  the  organ ; 3  and  Jeremy  Collier  is  pro 
bably  alluding  to  similar  exhibitions  when  he  says, '  Church 
Music  must  have  no  voluntary  Maggots,  no  military  Tattoos, 
no  light  and  galliardizing  notes.  Religious  harmony  must 
be  moving,  but  noble  withal ;  grave,  solemn  and  seraphic  ; 
fit  for  a  martyr  to  play,  and  an  angel  to  hear.' 4  Perhaps  it 

1  Taylor  wrote   to  Evelyn  in    1656,  '  It  is  a  thousand  pitties  but  our 
English  tongue  should  be  enriched  with  a  translation  of   all  the  sacred 
hymns  which  are  respersed  in  all  the  rituals  and  church  bookes,' — and  so 
forth,  but  does  not  directly  urge  their  use  in  public  worship.     See  Life, 
prefixed  to  Heber's  edition  of  Jeremy  Taylor's  Workq,  p.  Ivi. 

2  See  A  Practical  Discourse  of  Religious  Assemblies,  p.  178.      3  No.  338. 
4  Essays  upon  Moral  Subjects,  by  Jeremy  Collier  ;  Of  Musick. 


1 88          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

is  hypercritical  to  find  fault  with  a  voluntary  before  the 
first  lesson,  which  the  '  Spectator '  thinks  a  laudable  custom ; l 
but  it  was  surely  utilising  psalmody  for  purposes  for  which 
it  was  never  intended  when  *  before  sermon  a  long  psalm 
was  set  which  lasted  an  hour  while  the  sexton  gathered 
his  year's  contribution  through  the  whole  church  ; ' 2  and 
though  Pepys  thought  it  a  'jest '  to  hear  'the  clerk  begin 
the  25th  Psalm  which  hath  a  proper  tune  to  it,  and  then 
the  116th,  which  cannot  be  sung  to  that  tune,'3  and 
*  mighty  sport  to  hear  our  clerke  sing  out  of  tune  though 
his  master  sits  by  him,  that  begins  and  keeps  the  time 
aloud  for  the  parish,' 4  yet  one  does  not  go  to  church 
to  find  jests  or  enjoy  mighty  sport.  Such  contretemps 
were  perhaps  natural  on  the  revival  of  an  unfamiliar  prac 
tice  ;  but  one  may  sympathise  more  with  the  satisfaction 
with  which  the  other  diarist,  Thoresby,  records  on  October 
3, 1708,  that '  a  new7  order  of  singing  was  begun  this  da}7  in 
the  parish  church  [Leeds],  to  sing  a  stave  betwixt  the  daily 
Morning  and  Communion  Service,  as  has  long  been  done 
at  London.'  Bishop  Bull  writes  to  the  same  effect  in  the 
same  year.5 

The  restorers  of  Church  order  had  considerable  difficulty 
about  that  old  bone  of  contention,  the  surplice.  In  October, 
1660,  its  use  in  Cathedrals,  Collegiate  Churches,  the  Chapels 
Pioyal  and  College  Chapels  was  enjoined  by  Eoyal  Declara 
tion,  but  in  parish  churches  it  was  left  to  the  option  of 
incumbents.  And  even  after  the  Act  of  1662,  there  was 
evidently  some  timidity  about  adopting  it.  Pepys  tells  us, 
in  October,  1662,  how  *  Parson  Milles  has  got  one  to  read 
with  surplice  on,'  and  adds,  '  I  suppose  himself  will  take  it 
up  hereafter,  for  a  cunning  fellow  that  he  is.'  Bishop  Turner 


1  No.  630. 

2  Pepys'  Diary  for  January  6,  16Jj£.     A  similar  entry  occurs  on  January 
5,  166^. 

3  Diary  for  January  5,  1661. 

4  Diary  for  November  13,  1664.  »  See  Nelson's  Life  of  Bull. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  189 

is  informed  that  '  the  clergyman  of  Little  Gransden,  be 
fore  Mr.  Oley  died,  never  wore  the  surplice,  except  on 
Communion  days,  and  that  was  but  twice  a  year.' !  Dean 
Granville  complains  of  his  curate  at  Kilkhampton  in  Corn 
wall  '  officiating  without  the  surplice  to  please  the  dow-baked 
people  of  that  country ;  ' 2  and  among  his  archidiaconal 3 
articles  of  visitation  one  question  for  the  churchwardens 
was,  'Doth  your  minister  wear  the  surplice?'  Even  a 
bishop,  Croft  of  Hereford,  wrote  in  1675,  '  to  be  zealous  for 
the  surplice  is  not  wise  ; ' 4  and  a  far  more  strict  prelate, 
Bishop  Smalridge,  while  he  defends  the  use  of  the  surplice, 
does  so  in  terms  which  shew  that  it  was  a  question  on 
which  there  was  a  diversity  of  opinion.5  On  the  other 
hand,  the  surplice  was  not  (infrequently  worn  in  the  pulpit. 
In  the  diocese  of  Durham  it  was  usual  from  the  time  of 
Bishop  Cosin  downwards/5  One  of  the  arguments  used  in 
favour  of  reading  the  second  service  at  the  desk,  was,  that 
'  it  was  indecent  to  go  to  the  altar  and  back,  with  the 
surplice  still  on,  to  the  homily  or  sermon  (which,  being 
part  of  divine  service,  is  performed  with  the  surplice  on),' 
&c.7  Even  as  late  as  1722,  Ealph  Thoresby,  now  a  distinct 
churchman,  has  this  odd  entry :  *  Mr.  Rhodes  preached 
well  [at  Batley],  though  in  his  surplice.'1 8 

To  turn  from  the  inanimate  to  the  animate.  Three 
classes  of  officers,  besides  the  parochial  clergy,  require 
notice  in  connection  with  restoration  of  Church  order. 

1  See  Miss  Strickland's  Lives  of  the  Seven  Bishops,  p.  180. 
•  Remains,  Part  II.,  p.  159. 

3  Granville   was  Archdeacon  of    Northumberland  as  well  as  Dean   of 
Durham. 

4  See  The  Naked  Truth,  &c.     It  is  fair  to  add  that  this  work  gave  great 
offence. 

5  See  Sixty  Sermons,  by  Bishop  G.  Smalridge,  1719. 

6  See  Low's  Diocesan  History  of  Durham  (S.P.C.K). 

1  See  Parish  Churches  turned  into  Conventicles  (1683)  ;  also  Parish 
Churches  no  Conventicles,  in  answer  to  the  above  (1683).  The  latter 
argues  that  '  preaching  is  appointed  to  those  in  Cathedrals,  not  Parish 
Churches.' 

8  llalph  Thoresby's  Diary  for  June  17,  1722. 


LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Lecturers  had  been  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  Church 
before  the  Eebellion.  They  had  been  used  in  fact  as  the 
thin  end  of  the  wedge  which  split  the  Church.  Dating 
from  a  period  anterior  to  the  Keformation,  they  had  ac 
quired  additional  prominence  in  the  early  part  of  Charles 
I.'s  reign  by  the  purchase  of  a  number  of  lay  impropriations 
which  were  legally  vested  in  feoffees ;  these  feoffees  estab 
lished  a  number  of  lectures,  nominally  to  form  a  '  preaching 
ministry/  but  really  to  upset  the  order  of  the  Established 
Church.1  These  lecturers  were  practically  independent  of 
the  parochial  ministers ;  Bishop  Wren  found  them  in  the 
diocese  of  Norwich  '  set  up  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
Ordinary,  and  observing  no  Church  order  at  all.' 2  Arch 
bishop  Laud  strove  to  check  them  ; 3  but  this  was  no  easy 
task.  Among  other  things,  they  succeeded  in  ousting 
from  many  churches  the  good  old  custom  of  catechising 
in  favour  of  afternoon  sermons,  an  order  of  Parliament 
in  1641  having  allowed  parishioners  to  '  maintain  a  con 
formable  lecturer,'  to  whom  the  parson  should  give  way 
'  on  Sunday  afternoons,  unless  he  would  preach  himself.' 4 
In  1630  Heylin,  in  a  sermon  preached  at  Oxford  on  the 
Parable  of  the  Tares,  says  the  '  planting  of  pensionary  lec 
turers  in  so  many  places  will  bring  forth  those  fruits  that 
will  appear  to  be  a  Tare  indeed;  tho'  now  no  wheat  be 
accounted  fairer,'  and  declares  that  their  object  is  *  to  cry 
down  the  established  clergy,  undermine  the  public  liturgy,' 
and  so  forth.5  From  the  Articles  of  Visitation  of  the 


1  See  Jeremy  Collier's  Ecclesiastical  History,  vol.  viii.  p.  59.  Also 
Heylin's  Sermon  on  the  Parable  of  the  Tares,  ut  infra. 

a  See  Archbishop  Laud's  certificate  to  the  King  on  Bishop  Wren's  Visi 
tation  of  the  Diocese  of  Norwich  in  1634,  quoted  in  Marsh's  Memoirs  of 
Archbishop  Juxon  and  his  Times,  pp.  24-25. 

3  See  Life  of  Laud,  in  Dean  Hook's  Lives  of  the  Archbishops  of  Canter 
bury,  vol.  xi.  pp.  180,  181,  188. 

4  See  Perry's  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  vol.  ii.  p.  132. 

s  See  the  sermon  quoted  in  White  Rennet's  Case  of  Impropriations,  &c., 
p.  198. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  191 

Restoration  period,  it  is  clear  that  the  subject  of  lecturers 
was  one  that  required  to  be  closely  looked  into.  Bishop 
Cosin,  in  his  primary  visitation  (1662),  makes,  as  one  would 
expect  from  him,  very  strict  inquiries  about  them.1  Bishop 
Hacket  in  his  second  visitation  (1668),  asks,  'Doth  your 
parish  maintain  a  lecturer  ?  Is  he  a  vertuous  and  orthodox 
divine  ?  Is  he  licensed  by  the  bishop  ?  Doth  he  read  the 
full  service  of  Common  Prayer  once  a  month  at  least, 
wearing  a  surplice  ? ' 2  and  Sheldon  and  others  made 
vigorous  efforts  to  regulate  them.3  The  extreme  love  of 
sermons  which  survived  the  ^Restoration  naturally  added 
to  the  popularity  of  the  lecturers.  The  author  of  the 
'Ladies'  Calling'  complains  that  'people  will  hurry  to  a 
Lecture,  though  it  be  at  the  remotest  part  of  the  town,  but 
let  the  bell  toll  never  so  loud  for  the  canonical  hours  of 
prayer,  it  will  not  call  the  nearest  of  the  neighbourhood.' 
Allestree,  when  he  became  Canon  of  Christ  Church,  ren 
dered  most  useful  service,  by  undertaking  one  of  the  lec 
tures  of  the  city  and  striving  to  bring  back  the  people  into 
the  old  ways  by  this  popular  method,  while  he  gave  the 
salary  of  the  lecturer  to  the  poor.4  Of  course  the  Puritan 
party,  inside  and  outside  the  Church,  were  anxious  to  retain 
the  office  of  lecturer,  and  Baxter,  among  his  proposed  terms 
of  union  in  1673,  required  that  'lecturers  should  not  be 
obliged  to  read  the  service,  or  at  most  that  it  be  enough  if 
once  in  half  a  year  they  read  the  greatest  part  of  what 
is  appointed  for  that  time.' 5  Equally  of  course,  strict 
churchmen  objected  to  these  free  lances  in  the  Church, 


1  See    Bishop    Cosin's    Woi'ks,    vol.    iv.    (Library   of    Anglo-Catholic 
Theology.) 

2  Articles    of    Inquiry  concerning  matters    ecclesiastical,    exhibited   to 
Ministers,  Churchwardens,  and  Sidesmen  of  every  parish  within  the  Dioceso 
of  Lichfield  and  Coventry,  in  the  second  Triennial  Visitation  of  John,  Lord 
Bishop,  1668. 

3  See  Hook's  Church  Dictionary.    Art.  '  Lecturers.' 

4  See  Bishop  Fell's  Life  of  Allestree. 

5  See  White  Rennet's  History  of  England,  iii.  p.   298. 


IQ2          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

who  were  quite  independent  of  her  laws,  and  were  for  ever 
cavilling  at  her  offices  and  officers.  '  If,'  writes  Wharton, 
'  I  would  recommend  myself  to  a  city  lectureship,  I  should 
have  a  chance  of  success  if  I  inveighed  against  pluralities, 
and  accused  the  clergy  of  negligence  and  covetousness.'  l 
Perhaps  we  may  think  that  the  inveighing  against  plura 
lities  was  not  in  itself  an  unprofitable  or  superfluous  work, 
and  certainly  the  lecturers  were  sometimes  useful.  Patrick 
speaks  with  gratitude  of  his  '  congregation  at  Covent  Garden, 
and  patron,  the  Earl  of  Bedford,  kindly  paying  a  lecturer 
for  him  ;  '  2  and  the  '  preaching  of  a  lecture  on  the  first 
market  day  of  every  month  in  all  the  great  towns  in 
Cheshire  '  3  must  have  been,  if  duly  regulated,  a  very 
seasonable  exercise.  In  fact  the  work  of  lecturers  gene 
rally  required  to  be  regulated  rather  than  abolished. 

A  more  humble,  but  more  ancient  and  regular  office 
than  the  lecturer's,  was  that  of  the  *  reader  '  in  parish 
churches,  of  whom  we  hear  much  during  our  period. 
Readers  are  one  of  the  five  minor  orders  in  the  Church  of 
Rome  ;  in  the  Church  of  England  they  are,  of  course,  no 
separate  order  ;  they  were  simply  an  inferior  kind  of  curate 
who  did  the  mechanical  work  of  reading  the  service  while 
the  great  man  reserved  his  energies  for  the  pulpit.  There 
seems  to  have  been  an  odious  and  -ridiculous  notion  that  it 
was  derogatory  to  the  dignity  of  a  great  preacher  to  read 
the  prayers,4  and  this,  it  is  to  be  feared,  rather  than  the 
real  necessity  of  such  help,  was  the  cause  of  the  employ 
ment  of  so  many  readers.  The  office  of  reader  was,  in 
fact,  the  lowest  rung  in  the  ecclesiastical  ladder,  and  one 
can  hardly  wonder  that  it  was  badly  paid  and  lightly 
esteemed.  Bramhall,  in  answer  to  some  contemptuous  re 
marks  of  Baxter,  declares  that  he  has  '  great  respect  for  the 


1  Defence  of  Pluralities,  p.  7. 

2  Autobiography  of  Simon  Patrick,  p.  80. 

3  Archbishop  Nicolson's  Correspondence,  i.  165. 

4  See,  inter  aim,  Nelson's  Life  of  Bull,  p.  85. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  193 

poor  readers,'  but  his  attitude  is  evidently  that  of  a  superior 
patting  an  inferior  on  the  back,  rather  than  of  a  man  de 
fending  his  brother  and  his  equal.1  Swift,  when  he  draws 
an  imaginary  portrait  of  an  undeservedly  unfortunate 
clergyman,  makes  him  begin  his  ecclesiastical  career  as 
reader  in  a  parish  church  at  20Z.  a  year,2  and  readers  are 
said  to  have  been  so  badly  paid  that  they  used  to  combine 
the  duties  of  several  churches,  rushing,  when  the  sermon 
commenced,  to  begin  prayers  at  another  church.3  But, 
unlike  the  present  day,  there  was  then  so  great  a  superfluity 
of  clergymen  that  even  a  reader's  place  was  eagerly  sought. 
Thus  Dr.  Kennet  writes  to  an  intimate  friend,  holding  out  a 
hope,  but*  evidently  as  a  great  favour,  that  he  might  offer 
the  post  to  his  son  if  he  was  qualified  for  it ; 4  and  Dr. 
Willis  left  a  salary  for  a  reader  to  read  the  prayers  at 
S.  Martin's  in  the  Fields,  evidently  under  the  impression, 
which  turned  out  to  be  correct,  that  there  would  be  no 
difficulty  in  supplying  the  place. 

The  domestic  chaplain  had  no  connection  as  such  with 
the  services  of  the  parish  church,  and  will  therefore  be 
better  dealt  with  in  relation  to  the  social  life  of  the  period. 
But  there  was  another  functionary  who  certainly  occupied 
a  more  important  and  prominent  position  than  he  does  at 
the  present  day.  The  parish  clerk,  who  set  the  psalm,  and 
often,  it  would  seem,  selected  it,  who  was  invested  in  black 
gown  and  bands;5  and  who,  in  point  of  emolument,  if  the 
'  Athenian  Oracle  '  is  to  be  trusted,  had  twice  as  good  a  place 
as  the  reader,6  might  well  be  thought  to  hold  a  desirable 

1  See    Bislwp    Bramhatt's    Vindication    &c.  against    Baxter    (1672), 
pp.  161-2. 

2  Essay  on  the  Fates  of  Clergymen.     Swift's  Works,  Scott's  edition, 
vol.  vii.  p.  237. 

3  See  Perry's  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  ii.  p.  240. 

4  In  the  unpublished  MSS.  of  White  Kennet,  in  the  British  Museum, 
to  which  my  attention  was  kindly  directed  by  E.  Garnett,  Esq. 

'  The  stiff  parish  clerks  with  their  bans  and  their  gowns.' 
(T.  Brown,  '  Verses  on  Sternhold  and  Hopkins  etc.,'  Works,  iv.  64). 
6  See  Athenian  Oracle,  p.  406. 

O 


1 94          LTFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

and  responsible  post  which  was  keenly  competed  for.  An 
interesting  letter  from  John  Lake  (afterwards  Bishop  of 
Chichester)  when  he  was  incumbent  of  Prestwich,  to  a 
friend  who  '  made  interest  with  him  for  the  appointment  of 
parish  clerk,'  shews  what  a  valuable  piece  of  patronage  it 
was  considered.1  Swift,  in  his  companion  picture  of  the  un 
deservedly  lucky  clergyman  contrasted  with  the  undeservedly 
unfortunate  one  referred  to  above,  describes  Corusodes  as 
'  selling  the  clerkship  of  the  parish  when  it  became  vacant.' 2 
Stackhouse,  in  suggesting  remedies  for  the  *  miseries  of  the 
inferior  clergy,'  wishes  that  'the  ancient  custom  were 
revived  of  admitting  none  but  men  in  Holy  Orders  to  be 
parish  clerks.' 3  Without  grudging  these  functionaries  their 
comfortable  profits,  one  may  be  thankful  that  the  odious 
custom  of  supplying  what  was  lacking  by  means  of  '  clerk 
ales '  was  not  so  common  after,  as  it  had  been  before  the 
Rebellion.4 

This  leads  us  to  the  subject  of  the  supply  of  ways  and 
means  generally.  Our  countrymen  of  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries  appear  to  have  had  a  wonderful  faith 
in  the  efficacy  of  'Briefs.'  And  yet  that  faith  scarcely 
seems  to  have  been  justified  by  results.  Now  and  then  the 
brief  was  responded  to  with  extraordinary  liberality.  When 
Mr.  Bowyer's  printing-house  was  burnt  down  in  1712,  the 
brief  brought  in  1,400J.  or  1,500/.5  The  brief  for  the 

1  The  letter  is  quoted  in  Miss  Strickland's  Lives  of  the  Seven  Bishops  t 
p.  109. 

*  Essays  on  the  Fates  of  Clergymen,  ut  supra. 

3  Miseries  and  Great  Hardships  of  the  Inferior  Clergy  in  and  about 
London,  and  a  modest  Plea  for  their  Rights  and  better  Usage,  in  a  Letter 
to  the  Bishop  of  London,  by  T.  Stackhouse,  1787. 

4  See  Bishop   Pierce's   curious  letter,  Canterbury's  Doom,   pp.   142-3. 
'  There  is  great  reason  for  clerk  ales  for  the  maintenance  of  parish  clerks  ; 
for  in  poor  country  parishes  the  people,   thinking  it  unfit  that  the  clerk 
should  duly  attend  at  the  church  and  not  gain  by  his  office,  send  him  in 
provision  and  then  come  and  feast  with  him,  by  which  means  he  sells  more 
ale,  and  tastes  more  of  the  liberality  of  the  people,  than  their  quarterly 
payments  would  amount  to  ift  many  years.' 

5  According  to  Nichols  (Literary  Anecdotes  of  the  eighteenth  Century, 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  195 

French  Protestant  refugees  in  1682  realised  more  than 
40,OOOL  But  these  were  exceptional  cases.  Bowyer  was 
a  very  well-known  man,  and  his  disaster  called  forth  much 
sympathy.1  By  their  generosity  to  the  French  Protestants 
the  English  uttered  a  silent  but  very  emphatic  protest 
against  the  Eomanising  tendencies  of  King  James  and 
his  creatures.  But,  as  a  rule,  the  briefs  were  not  warmly 
welcomed,  and  one  can  hardly  wonder,  for  a  royal  mandate 
is  not  the  right  instrument  for  stimulating  Christian  charity. 
Here  again,  the  State  stepped  in,  and  in  its  professed  desire 
to  help  the  Church,  was  really  a  hindrance  to  her  work. 
Besides  the  obvious  objection  that  it  was  putting  charity 
upon  a  wrong  footing,  the  number  of  briefs  became  a  nui 
sance  ; 2  and  the  objects  for  which  they  were  issued  were 
often  of  a  very  questionable  character.  Losses  by  fire 
were  perhaps  legitimate  causes ;  but  when  we  find  so  right- 
thinking,  and  generally,  judicious  a  churchman  as  Arch 
bishop  Sharp,  offering  to  procure  a  brief  for  the  payment  of 
Mr.  Wesley's  debts  ; 3  when  we  hear  of  a  brief  being  granted 
to  rebuild  a  play-house  that  had  been  burnt  down  ; 4  when  we 
learn  that  there  were  uncomfortable  suspicions  about  briefs 
being  farmed,  and  that  these  suspicions  could  not  be  satis 
factorily  repelled ; 5  that  they  '  encouraged  parishioners  to  let 

i.  60),  '  a  clear  amount  of  1,514Z.  13s.  4f  d.,'  accordingto  others,  1,400Z.  (See 
Secretan's  Life  of  R.  Nelson,  sub  finem.) 

1  Thoresby,  Diary,  February  8,  171^.     '  Mr.  Bowyer 's  house  burned. 
Hope  he  may  obtain  a  brief.'     Nichols'  Literary  Anecdotes,  vol.  i.  p.  60  &c., 
shew  that  there  was  strong  sympathy  with  Bowyer  on  all  sides. 

2  Pepys  (Diary,  June  30,  1661)  '  observes  the  trade  of  briefs  is  come 
now  up  to  so  constant  a  course  every  Sunday,  that  we  resolve  to  give  no 
more  to  them  ;  '  a  not  unreasonable  complaint,  if  it  be  true  that  the  brief  was 
read   for  fifteen  consecutive    Sundays   for   the  same   object,  the  relief  of 
some  persons  who  had  suffered  from  a  fire  in  S.  Dunstan's  in  the  West. 

3  SeeTyerman's  Life  and  Times  of  Samuel  Wesley,  p.  234.     Mr.  Wesley 
had  too  much  self-respect  to  accept  the  offer. 

4  See  Noble's  Biographical  History  of  England,  i.  93. 

5  All  that  Dr.  Wells  (The  Rich  Man's  Duty  to  contribute  liberally  to  the 
Building  &c.  of  Churches]  can  say  in  answer  to  the  objection  that  briefs  for  the 
rebuilding  of  Churches  are  farmed,  is,  '  If  they  are,  do  not  give  liberally,  but 
give  something  ; '  and, '  How  does  he  know  it  is  farmed  ?   Is  it  suspicion  ?'  Ac. 

o  2 


196          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

their  churches  run  to  ruin  in  hopes  of  getting  a  brief  at  last 
for  them ;  that  the  costs  of  repairing  churches  were  much 
over-reckoned  in  briefs ;  and  that  the  money  was  misspent ; ' l 
we  need  not  be  surprised  at  the  system  not  working  well. 
Briefs  for  churches,  we  are  told,  brought  in  '  in  large 
parishes  not  more  than  4s.  or  5s. ;  in  smaller  Is.  or  2s. 
Some  rich  people  give  6d.,  others  think  it  a  piece  of  mere 
imprudence  and  weakness  to  give  anything.  Those  who 
give  nothing  or  too  little  to  briefs  for  churches,  give  likewise 
nothing  or  too  little  to  briefs  for  the  poor ; '  but  in  justice 
to  our  ancestors,  we  must  admit  that  the  very  small  sums 
generally  given  to  briefs,  especially  for  churches,  cannot  be 
altogether  regarded  as  '  a  sad  proof  of  the  decay  of  piety.' 2 
Political  causes  may  explain  the  suspicion  with  which 
Bishop  Ken's  efforts  to  raise  a  little  money  for  the  distressed 
nonjurors  were  received  by  the  Privy  Council ;  but  it 
surely  shewed  a  strange  confusion  between  the  functions  of 
Church  and  State,  to  object  to  his  appeal  as  '  an  -usurpation 
of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  as  infringing  on  the  king's  rights 
and  of  the  nature  of  a  brief.' 3  It  is  curious  that  the  vigorous 
revival  of  Church  feeling  did  not  suggest  the  adoption  of  the 
weekly  offertory,  but  it  is  clear  that  a  fair  trial  was  never  given 
to  that  system.  Nelson  speaks  of  Bull's  as  quite  an  excep 
tional  case  when  he  established  the  offertory,  *  which  is  too 
much  neglected  in  country  villages.' 4  Bishop  Cosin  writes  to 
the  Vice- Chancellor  of  Cambridge  about  '  the  money  thrown 
into  the  basons  at  the  church  doors '  for  the  sufferers  from 
the  Plague  in  1665, — a  plan  with  which  the  elders  among  us 
were  familiar  in  our  youth,  but  which  is  now  happily  very 
rare.  When  the  offertory  was  adopted,  the  results  were 
wonderfully  encouraging.  Patrick  was  evidently  quite 
embarrassed  by  the  large  sum  it  brought  in  at  S.  Paul's, 

1  Rich  Man's  Duty  d'C.,  ut  supra.  All  the  answer  given  to  these  objec 
tions  is,  that  supposing  they  are  all  true,  it  is  not  a  good  reason  for  not 
giving. 

-  Rich  Man's  Duty  £c.,  ut  supra. 

3  Life  of  Ken,  by  Hawkins,  p.  81.  4  Life  of  Bull,  p.  94. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  197 

Covent  Garden ;  l  and  the  amount  of  voluntary  offerings 
for  missionary  work  was  very  large,  considering  the  infancy 
of  the  undertaking. 

The  ritual  of  the  period  varied  from  a  correctness 
which  would  satisfy  the  most  rigid  observer  of  forms  in  the 
present  day  to  a  slovenliness  which  would  shock  the  most 
lax.  For  instance,  the  custom  of  bowing  to  the  East 
according  to  the  fortieth  Canon  \vas  far  more  usual  than 
it  is  now.  Churchmen  like  Laud  and  Morton  had  ad 
vocated  it  before  the  Rebellion, — the  latter  having  most 
clearly  distinguished  it  from  the  Roman  adoration  to  the 
altar,  in  a  phrase  which  is  almost  epigrammatic :  '  We 
bow,  not  to  the  Table  of  the  Lord,  but  to  the  Lord  of  the 
Table.'  But  after  the  Restoration  it  became  much  more 
general  than  it  had  been  before.  Bishop  Croft  of  Hereford 
speaks  of  it  as  an  ordinary  use  in  1675,  and  desires  it  to 
be  given  up,  only  on  the  same  principle  as  that  on  which 
he  would  have  conceded  the  surplice,  kneeling  at  the  Lord's 
Supper,  the  cross  at  Baptism  &c.2  The  '  Athenian  Oracle,' 
(that  is,  Samuel  Wesley,)  justifies  it  most  sensibly,  and  in 
terms  which  shew  that  it  was  the  rule,  not  the  exception.3 
An  anonymous  writer  in  1670  promises  an  objector  to  all 
Church  order,  that  '  he  shall  not  knock  his  shins  when  he 
bows  towards  the  altar.' 4  An  anonymous  rhymester  of  about 
the  same  date,  writing  of  Church  customs  which  were 
general,  if  not  universal,  says — 

I  quarrel  not  with  him  that  bows  the  knee 
Towards  the  East,  although  the  altars  bee 
Mere  stumbing-blocks  to  some,  they're  none  to  me.5 

1  '  Having  very  often  great  Communions,  and  sometimes  large  offerings, 
I  was  very  solicitous  how  to  dispose  of  so  much  money  ;  it  was  too  much  to 
relieve  the  poor,  and  I  told  the  churchwardens  it  was  not  intended  to  lessen 
their  rates,  &c.'     (Autobiography  of  Simon  Patrick,  p.  90.) 

2  See  Naked  Truth,  ut  supra.  3  See  Athenian  Oracle,  iii.  p.  483. 

4  See  A  Private  Conference  between  a  rich  Alderman  and  a  poor  Country 
Vicar,  <&c.,  p.  16.  Hickeringill  (The  Black  Nonconformist,  Works,  ii.  p.  87) 
objects,  among  other  things,  to  '  cringing  to  the  east,  to  the  altar.' 

6  An  Apology  of  tlie  Author  of  The  Asse's  Complaint  against  Balaam. 


198  LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

A  writer  in  1G87  tells  us  that  at  Carlisle  Cathedral  '  all 
bowed  towards  the  altar,'  l  and  we  have  contemporary  evi 
dence  that  this  was  general  at  Cathedrals.2  Dr.  Edward 
Lake,  in  a  devotional  work  written  in  1677,  strongly  urges 
his  readers,  '  after  receiving,  to  arise  and  make  their  reve 
rence  to  the  altar.' 3  Joseph  Bingham,  who  was  far  from 
being  an  extreme  man,  is  decidedly  in  favour  of  the  prac 
tice  ;  4  and  White  Kennet,  in  his  earlier  days,  recommends 
it  to  his  '  Christian  Scholar.' 5  Of  course  the  practice  also 
met  with  strong  opposition,  as  the  above  quotations  inti 
mate  ;  indeed  the  opponents  sometimes  invoked  the  strong 
arm  of  the  law;  we  read  of  the  church  of  All  Hallows', 
Barking,  being  '  presented  for  innovations,  as  bowing  to 
the  East ; ' 6  but  the  custom  was  still  generally  retained. 

On  the  other  hand  there  were  instances  of  extreme 
irreverence  which  would  now  shock  all  but  the  utterly  god 
less.  It  has  been  already  told  how  the  Princess  Mary 
thought  she  was  in  a  Dutch  church  because  the  people  of 
Canterbury  stood  on  the  Communion  Table  to  look  at  her, 
and  how  Dean  Granville  sent  some  boys  to  the  House  of 
Correction  at  Durham  for  playing  at  cards  on  the  Commu 
nion  Table.  Among  the  Articles  of  Inquiry  at  Bishop  Cosin's 
first  Visitation  at  Durham,  one  is,  '  Doth  anyone  put  his 
hat  on  the  Communion  Table  ?  ' 7  and  Articles  of  Visitation 
shew  that  similar  inquiries  were  seasonable  at  a  later 
period. 

At  the  east  end  itself  we  find  the  same  strange  con 
trasts.  On  the  one  hand  altar  lights  were  by  no  means 
unusual.  Among  the  princely  gifts  which  Bishop  Cosin 

1  Story's  Journal,  p.  4. 

2  See  Granville's  Letters,  ii.  p.  95.     Mackenzie  Walcott's  Traditions  and 
Customs  of  Cathedrals,  p.  136. 

3  See  Lake's  Officium  Eucharisticum.       4  See  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  545,  cfec. 

5  See  infra,  Chapter  on  Devotional  Works. 

6  JEntring  Book,  March  1681,  quoted  in  Dr.  Stoughton's  Church  of  the 
Restoration,  ii.  183. 

7  Bishop  Cosin's  Works  (Library  of  Anglo-Catholic-Theology),  vol.  iv. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  199 

presented  to  the  chapels  at  Auckland  and  Durham  were  two 
large  silver  candlesticks,  gilded  and  embossed,  three  feet 
high,  to  be  placed  upon  the  altar;1  Bishop  Fuller  of 
Lincoln  says  he  '  will  give  them  [at  the  Cathedral]  a  paire 
of  faire  brass  candlesticks,'  not,  be  it  observed,  because 
they  had  none  already,  but  because  'they  have  a  pitiful 
paire  of  ordinary  brasse  candlesticks  upon  the  Altar,  which 
(he  says,)  I  am  asham'd  to  see,  and  can  indure  no  longer.' 
He  seems  however  to  anticipate  a  little  opposition,  for  he 
adds,  '  I  find  in  the  Inventory  of  church  utensils,  before 
they  were  imbezilled,  a  paire  of  copper  candlesticks  guilt. 
Why  may  I  not  give  the  like  ?  ' 2  Hickeringill's  objections 
to  the  church  service  in  1682  include  'lighted  candles 
on  the  altar ;  ' 3  and  a  picture  of  S.  Paul's  of  about  the 
same  date  represents  altar  lights.  In  another  picture  of 
the  coronation  of  William  and  Mary,  we  see  twenty-eight 
lights  burning  on  the  altar,  and  eight  on  the  re-table,  and 
the  author  of  the  '  Asse's  Complaint  against  Balaam ' 
writes  of  them  as  of  an  ordinary  use.4 

On  the  other  hand  it  was  by  no  means  universal  after 
the  Kestoration  to  have  the  altar  railed  in  at  the  east  end 
of  the  chancel.  In  a  picture  of  1670, 5  the  altar  is  at  the 
entrance  of  the  chancel,  with  the  communicants  kneeling 
round  it  at  some  little  distance.  It  is  not  till  1678  that 
Evelyn  records,  *  now  was  our  Holy  Table  placed  altar-wise  ; ' 
and  it  was  not  till  1687  that  Bishop  Cartwright  commanded 
the  churchwardens  at  Liverpool  to  '  set  the  Communion 

1  '  Duo  magna  candelabra  argentea  et  dupliciter  deaurata,  tres  pedes  alta, 
opere  celato  fabricata,  et  super  Altare,  sive  Mensam  Dominicam,  quotidie 
locanda.'     (Correspondence   of   Bishop   Cosin  (Surtees  Society),  Part  II., 

P-  71.) 

2  Bishop  of  Lincoln  to  Dean  Bancroft,  quoted  in  Granville's  Remains, 
Part  L,  p.  217,  note. 

3  The  Black  Nonconformist  (Hickeringill's  Works,  ii.  87). 

4  As  for  the  harmless  Tapers,  let  them  burn, 
Yet  when  the  bridegroom  wakes  her  from  her  urn, 
These  will  not  serve  the  sleeper's  turn.' 
5  Frontispiece  to  The  Devout  Communicant  Exemplified. 


2OO          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Table  altar-wise  against  the  wall.'  *  Dean  Prideaux,  a 
cautious  but  sound  churchman,  speaks  very  doubtfully 
about  altar  rails,  approving  of  them  himself,  but  implying 
that  there  was  great  opposition  to  them,  which  in  some 
cases  it  might  be  well  to  conciliate.2  Bishop  Sparrow 
speaks  of  the  '  Holy  Table  or  Altar  being  antiently  placed 
towards  the  upper  or  east  end  of  the  chancel,'  and  strongly 
approves  of  the  arrangement,  but  clearly  speaks  of  it  as  not 
being  at  that  time  general.3 

'  For  greater  ornament  and  decency,'  writes  Dean 
Prideaux  in  1701,  'are  added  in  many  churches,  paintings 
and  altar-pieces.' 4  The  latter  were  often  very  elaborate, 
especially  in  the  London  churches.  At  S.  Michael  Koyal, 
College  Hill,  was  *  an  altar-piece  of  singular  beauty,  carved 
by  Grinling  Gibbons  in  right  oak.' 5  At  S.  Bartholomew 
the  Great,  Smithfield,  when  it  was  '  beautified  '  in  1696,  '  the 
altar-piece  was  a  very  spacious  piece  of  architecture, '- 
whether  it  was  tasteful  or  appropriate  is  another  question.6 
At  the  Savoy  Chapel  the  altar  was  '  beautified  with  portraits 
of  the  twelve  Apostles  at  large.' 7  Ambrose  Barnes,  a  strong 
dissenter,  writing  from  Newcastle,  complains  of  '  new  altar- 
pieces  fitter  for  the  play-house  than  for  the  house  where 

1  Diary  of  Thomas  Cartwright,  BisJwp  of  Chester,  for  September  21, 1G87. 

2  Directions  to  Churchwardens  for  the  faithful  Discharge  of  their  Office, 
by  Humphrey  Prideaux,  Dean  of  Norwich  and  Archdeacon  of  Suffolk,  1701. 

3  See  Rationale  upon  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  pp.  28-9. 

4  Directions  to  Churchwardens  &c.,  ut  supra. 

5  See  Sir  C.  Wren,  his  Family  andhis  Times,  by  Lucy  Phillimore,  p.  272. 

6  The  reader  must  judge  for  himself.     '  It  was  painted  of  a  stone  colour 
in  perspective.     It  consists  of  four  columns  and  two  pilasters  with  their 
entablements  of  the  Doric  order.     The  intercolumns    are  the    Command 
ments,  and  lower  are  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  Creed,  all  done  in  gold  letters 
upon  black.     Over  the  Commandments,  and  under  an  arching  pediment  is 
a  glory,  with  the  word  Jehovah  done  in  Hebrew  characters.'     And  so  forth. 
(New  View  of  London,  i.  p.  142.) 

7  Paterson,  Pietas  Londinensis.     He  calls  it  '  S.  Mary-le-Strand,  or  the 
Savoy.'     The  present  S.  Mary-le-Strand  was  not  rebuilt  till  after  1714,  when 
Paterson  wrote,  but  the  Savoy  Chapel  was  used  as  the  parish  church  for 
the  parishioners,  and  hence  was  sometimes  incorrectly  called  '  S.  Mary-le- 
Strand.' 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  2Of 

God  is  worshipt,  some  of  them  contrived  with  carved  work 
resembling  the  lighted  tapers  of  a  mass  board.' l  Paintings 
were  of  a  most  varied  description.  The  sacred  monogram,'2 
the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  form  of  a  dove,  Moses  and  Aaron, 
Moses  with  horns,3  texts  of  Scripture,  the  angel  Gabriel, 
and,  what  appears  strangest  of  all  to  onr  views,  Queen 
Elizabeth  and  King  Charles  I ; 4 — the  former,  no  doubt,  as 
the  champion  of  Protestantism  against  Eomanism,  the 
latter  as  the  champion  and  martyr  of  the  Church  of 
England  against  Puritanism.  The  queen  and  the  king  did 
not,  as  might  perhaps  be  the  case  in  the  present  day, 
represent  the  Low  and  High  Church  parties  respectively. 
Hearne,  who  was  of  course  distinctly  a  high  churchman,  re 
cords  with  evident  approval  that  at  '  S.  Peter's  in  the  East, 
Oxford,  on  the  north  wall  is  painted  Queen  Elizabeth,  lying 
at  full  length  in  her  robes,  with  a  crown  on  her  head.' 5 

It  was,  perhaps,  from  something  of  the  same  kind  of 
feeling,  that  is,  not  pure  Erastianism,  but  as  a  sort  of 
symbol  of  '  our  happy  establishment  in  Church  and  State,' 
that  the  king's  arms  were  ordered  to  be  set  up  in  churches. 
Certainly,  Bishop  Hacket  was  no  Erastian ;  and  among  his 
Articles  of  Inquiry  in  1668,  one  question  is,  '  Are  the  king's 
arms  set  up  ?  '  It  is  by  no  means  intended  to  justify  the 
custom,  but  we  should,  in  common  fairness,  strive  to  place 
ourselves  in  the  position  of  the  churchmen  of  the  period. 
To  them  the  sovereign  was  the  common  barrier  against  a 
foreign  potentate  at  Borne  on  the  one  hand,  and  against 
republicans  at  home,  who  had  already  upset  the  Church, 
on  the  other ;  and  the  royal  arms  were  the  visible  emblem 
of  this  barrier.  About  setting  them  up  somewhere  in  the 
church,  no  question  seems  to  have  been  raised ;  but  when 

1  Memoirs  of  Ambrose  Barnes  (Surtees  Society).  -  Ibid. 

3  Bishop  Barlow's  Cases  of  Conscience,  '  Case  of  setting  up  images  in 
churches,'  in  which  much  curious  information  will  be  found.     Moses  was 
represented  with   horns,  owing  to  a  mistranslation  of  Exodus  xxxiv.  30, 
'  Facies  Mosis  erat  cornuta,'  in  the  Vulgate. 

4  See  Paterson's  Pietas  Londinensis.          5  Reliqida  Hearniance,  vol.  i. 


202  LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

they  formed,  as  they  sometimes  did,  part  of  the  altar-piece,1 
the  inappropriateness  did  seem  to  strike  some.  In  the 
'  Athenian  Oracle,'  there  is  an  interesting  protest  against 
their  being  '  set  up  above  the  Commandments  of  God  in  the 
place  of  most  holy  Christian  worship,  like  the  cherubims 
in  the  most  holy  place  of  the  temple  on  the  ark  of  God ; ' 
and  it  is  added  that  '  at  S.  Peter's,  Cornhill,  S.  Martin's, 
and  other  churches  where  there  are  and  were  persons  as 
observant  of  ceremonial  and  episcopal  order  as  any,  they 
have  been  placed  elsewhere.' 

Pews  cannot  certainly  be  reckoned  among  the  ornaments, 
but  they  were  a  painfully  conspicuous  part  of  the  furniture, 
of  the  church  during  our  period.  It  may  be  true,  as  Dean 
Hook  says,2  that  they  owed  indirectly  their  height  and 
general  obstructiveness  to  Puritanism,  but  it  cannot  honestly 
be  said  that  the  restorers  of  Church  order  did  much  to  abate 
the  nuisance.  Bishop  Hacket  complains  of  '  great  men 
being  content  to  set  up  new  pews  for  their  own  use,  but 
sticking  at  all  other  new  (church)  building.' 3  Sir  Christopher 
Wren  was  so  far  before  (or  behind)  his  age  as  to  *  wish  that 
there  should  be  no  pews,  but  only  open  benches,'  but  he 
felt  that  his  wish  could  not  be  gratified,  for  he  says,  '  there 
is  no  stemming  the  tide  of  profit  of  pew-keepers ;  espe 
cially  since  by  pews  in  the  chapel  of  ease,  the  minister 
is  chiefly  supported ; '  he  is  therefore  content  with  the  very 
modest  suggestion,  in  reference  to  the  design  of  Queen 
Anne's  fifty  new  churches,  that  '  a  church  should  not  be  so 
filled  with  pews  but  that  the  poor  may  have  room  enough 
to  stand  and  sit  in  the  alleys;  for  to  them  equally  is  the 
gospel  preached.' 4  Even  such  correct  churchmen  as  Cosin 
and  Granville  recognise  the  system.  From  a  letter  of  the 

1  In  the  description  of  the  altar-piece  at  S.  Bartholomew  the  Great, 
quoted    above,    the    climax    is,    '  above    the    pediment    are    the    queen's 
arms,'  &c. 

2  Church  Dictionary  :  '  Pews.' 

3  Plume's  Life  of  Hacket  (Walcott's  edition),  p.  88. 

4  Sir  C.  Wren,  &G.,  Phillimore,  p.  311. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  203 

former,  we  find  that  he  was  sorely  exercised  concerning  his 
daughter's  seat  in  Sedgfield  church ; '  and  among  the 
offences  taken  notice  of  at  an  archidiaconal  visitation  of  the 
latter,  one  is  '  the  intruding  into  Mrs.  Hackman's  pew.' 2 
We  read  of  Bishop  Cartwright  '  sealing  a  confirmation  of 
Mr.  Oldfield's  two  seats  in  the  gallery  at  Manchester  at  44s. 
per  annum ; ' 3  and  Defoe,  in  his  '  History  of  the  Plague,' 
speaks  of  '  people  locking  themselves  up  into  separate  pews.' 4 
If  this  '  locking  up '  is  to  he  taken  literally,  it  was  a  sur 
vival  from  the  pre-Rebellion  period,  for  Bishop  Earle,  in  his 
amusing  *  Microcosmography,'  describes  the  '  she  precise 
hypocrite  as  knowing  her  place  in  Heaven  as  perfectly  as 
the  pew  she  has  a  key  to.' 5  But  we  must  not  conclude 
that  wherever  pews  are  mentioned,  precisely  the  same  thing 
was  meant  as  we  mean.  Pepys  speaks  of  his  wife  '  sitting 
in  Lady  Fox's  pew  at  the  play,' 6  and  Bishop  Sparrow  of 
the  '  reading  pew  in  parish  churches.' 7  What  we  call 
'  pews  '  simply  were  called  sometimes  '  closed  pews,'  some 
times  *  privy  closets  ; '  and  there  are  few,  if  any,  indications 
during  our  period  of  any  serious  inclination  to  return  to 
the  good  old  plan  of  keeping  churches  unencumbered  with 
these  invidious  and  unsightly  appendages. 

The  regulation  of  notices  in  church  was  a  subject  which 
required  and  received  attention  from  the  restorers  of  Church 
order.  There  was  one  pious  and  interesting  custom,  the 
disuse  of  which  we  may  regret,  viz.  the  sending  in  of 
'tickets  for  intercession.'  Thoresby  frequently  refers  to 
this  custom  in  his  diary ; 8  and  Tom  Brown  thus  describes 
it — <  I  peeped  into  a  fine  church  on  my  way  to  Fleet  Street. 
Here,  before  sermon  began,  the  clerk  (in  a  slit  stick  con 
trived  for  that  purpose)  handed  up  to  the  desk  a  number  of 

Bishop  Cosin's  Correspondence.  (Surtees  Society),  p.  273. 

Remains,  Part  II.,  p.  4. 

Diary  of  Thomas  Cartivright,  Bishop  of  Chester,  for  March  26,  1G87. 

P.  81.  5  P.  96.  6  Diary,  vol.  v.  p.  114. 

Rationale  upon  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  p.  28. 

See  vol.  i.  p.  434 ;  ii.  pp.  19,  42,  &c. 


2O4          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

prayer-bills,  containing  the  humble  petitions  of  divers 
devotees  for  a  supply  of  what  they  wanted,  and  the  removal 
of  their  afflictions.'  *  But  matters  of  a  more  secular  nature 
than  intercession  were  wont  to  be  noticed  in  church.  The 
author  of  the  '  Clergyman's  Vade  Mecum '  protests  with 
good  reason  against  the  publishing  of  *  hues  and  cries  and 
enquiries  after  lost  goods '  in  church ; 2  and  though  it 
was  sanctioned  by  act  of  parliament 3  that  '  persons  newly 
come  to  be  inhabitants  might  at  their  request  be  published 
after  divine  service,'  the  custom  was  not  a  very  seemly 
one.  The  reading  of  the  king's  proclamation  against  vice 
and  immorality  four  times  every  year  was  very  usual  in 
churches :  and  so  good  a  churchman  as  Bishop  Patrick 
strongly  approves  of  it,  and  gives  most  elaborate  directions 
to  his  clergy  how  they  are  each  time  to  improve  the  occa 
sion.4  Dean  Granville,  who  above  all  things  prided  him 
self  upon  his  rubrical  correctness,  yet  thought  there  would 
be  nothing  unseemly  in  advising  the  people,  between  the 
Nicene  Creed  aiicl  the  sermon,  as  to  how  they  should  vote 
at  a  parliamentary  election.5 

This  chapter  must  not  be  concluded  without  a  word 
about  the  services  of  those  conscientious  churchmen  who 
were  only  prevented  by  scruples  about  the  oaths  from 
worshipping  at  the  national  altars.  It  is  difficult  to  ascer 
tain  much  on  the  subject,  for  the  nonjurors  were  obliged  to 
keep  their  meetings  secret,  since  those  meetings  were  liable 
at  any  time  to  be  interrupted,  the  worshippers  brought 
before  a  magistrate,  the  oaths  tendered  to  them,  and  a  fine 
imposed.6  To  prevent  the  intrusion  of  any  spy,  it  is  said 
that  a  watchword  was  agreed  upon  each  week  by  the 
'  faithful  remnant.'  It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  the  services 

1   Wvrks  of  Mr.  Thomas  Brown,  iii.  p.  69.  2  Pp.  280-1. 

3  3  and  4  William  and  Mary,  c.  12. 

4  See   Letter  of  the  Bishop  of  Chichester  to  his  Clergy,   1690.     Also 
Defoe's  Account  of  the  Societies  for  the  Reformation  of  Manners,  1699,  p.  68. 

6  Remains,  Part  I.,  p.  197. 

6  See  English  Church  in  the  eighteenth  Century,  i.  pp.  56-7. 


RESTORATION    OF    ORDER  205 

at  these  nonjuring  assemblies  were  precisely  similar  to 
those  at  any  well-regulated  church,  with  the  omission,  of 
course,  of  the  name  of  the  sovereign.  The  question  about 
the  '  usages '  was  of  later  date.  In  London  there  was,  we 
know,  a  chapel  in  Great  Ormond  Street,  which  Robert 
Nelson,  who  lived  in  that  street,  regularly  attended,  as  also 
did  '  my  neighbour  the  Dean  '  (Hickes)  when  he  was  at 
home.  Here  the  Holy  Communion  was  celebrated  '  every 
Sunday,  Good  Friday  and  other  solemn  occasions.'  The 
minister  was  Dr.  Marshall,  to  whom  Nelson  left  a  small 
legacy  '  in  regard  of  his  constant  attendance  at  the  Eucha- 
ristical  Sacrifice.'  l  There  was  probably  also  daily  service 
here,  for  Thoresby,  visiting  his  friend  Dr.  Hickes  on  a  week 
day,  'found  him  at  his  nonjuring  conventicle.' 2  There  was 
another  chapel  in  Fetter  Lane,  at  which  it  seems  not  im 
probable  that  Nathaniel  Spinckes  officiated,  for  '  he  lodged 
at  a  glazier's  in  Winchester  Street,  near  London  Wall,' 3  in 
the  neighbourhood.  There  was  in  Broad  Street  'a  non 
juring  congregation  to  which  Jeremy  Collier  preached.' 
The  bishop's  chapel  at  Ely  House,  Holborn,  was  naturally 
used  for  the  services  of  the  nonjurors,  so  long  as  Bishop 
Turner  had  the  power  of  opening  it  to  them.  Lord 
Clarendon  attended  the  service  there  on  January  30,  1690, 
and  heard  '  Mr.  Leslie  make  a.  most  excellent  sermon ; ' 
there  were,  he  tells  us,  '  about  three  score  people  present— a 
great  auditory  at  this  time.'  This  does  not  seem  an  over 
whelming  congregation,  but  perhaps  there  were  more  on 
Sundays.  At  any  rate  the  Bishop  of  S.  Asaph  (Lloyd)  was 
sent  to  inform  Bishop  Turner  that  the  king  had  been  told 
of  the  great  concourse  of  people  that  resorted  to  his  chapel, 
and  therefore  he  advised  him  to  shut  it  up  ;  the  advice 
not  being  taken,  the  same  prelate  went  the  next  week  to  his 
brother  of  Ely,  and  '  told  him  plainly  he  must  let  no  more 

1  Secretan's  Life  of  Nelson,  p.  175. 

2  Thoresby's  Diary    or  May  18,  1714. 

s  See  an  interesting  letter  from  R.  Nelson  to  Pepys,  appended  to  Pepys' 
Diary,  v.  422. 


2O6          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

company  come  to  his  chapel,'  *  so  that  I  perceive,'  adds  Lord 
Clarendon  bitterly, '  all  people  are  to  have  liberty  of  conscience 
but  those  of  the  true  Church  of  England.'  The  irrepressible 
bishop,  however,  was  not  so  easily  put  down ;  for,  some 
months  later,  Lord  Clarendon  writes,  '  I  went  to  the  Com 
munion  at  Ely  House,  where  I  found  the  Bishops  of  Ely, 
Gloucester  (Frampton),  and  Peterborough  (White),  all  non- 
jurors.'  l  There  was  another  place  of  meeting  for  the  non- 
jurors  in  Goodman's  Fields  at  which  Dr.  Welton,  who  had 
been  rector  of  Whitechapel,  officiated,  and  where  a  congre 
gation  of  300  or  250  was  wont  to  assemble.'2  In  the 
country,  the  nonjurors  generally  worshipped  in  private 
houses  ;  and  as  many  of  the  laymen  who  sympathised  with 
them  were  men  of  rank  and  wealth,  there  would  be  no  dif 
ficulty  in  finding  sufficiently  large  chapels  in  their  private 
houses  to  accommodate  the  small  congregation  that  would 
assemble  in  them.  This,  we  know,  was  the  case  at  Shot- 
tesbrook,  where  Mr.  Cherry  and  Mr.  Dodwell  maintained 
between  them  a  nonjuring  chaplain,  Mr.  Brokesby,  who 
conducted  the  services  daily  at  Shottesbrook  Park.3  The 
private  chapel  at  Longleat,  at  which  Mr.  Harbin,  the 
domestic  chaplain  of  Lord  Weymouth,  officiated,  was  de 
voted  to  nonjuring  services  until  the  accession  of  Queen 
Anne,  when  Lord  Weymouth  accepted  office,  and,  to  the 
great  grief  of  Ken,  was  obliged  to  have  the  prayers  for  the 
sovereign  used.  At  Oxford,  Hearne  tells  us,4  'the  nonjurors 
had  the  Sacrament  at  Mr.  Sheldon's  chambers  at  Christ 
Church,  who  finds  all  the  necessaries  for  it.'  The  same 
plan  was  doubtless  adopted  in  all  parts  of  the  country ; 
and  probably  there  was  no  cathedral  or  parish  church  in 
the  kingdom  where  more  orderly  services  were  carried  on 
than  in  the  private  chapels  or  rooms  in  which  this  little 
remnant  met  for  the  worship  of  God. 

1  See  Lord  Clarendon's  Diary,  ii.  pp.  302,  303,  304,  and  425. 
'*  See  Palin's  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  &c.,  p.  420,  and  Lath- 
bury's  History  of  the  Nonjurors,  pp.  252,  256-7. 

3  See  Life  of  Mr.  Henry  Dodwell,  by  Francis  Brokesby,  p.  542. 

4  Diary  for  September  14,  1705. 


207 


CHAPTER  V. 

RELIGIOUS    AND    PHILANTHROPICAL    SOCIETIES. 

AN  important  feature  in  the  Church  life  of  the  period,  and 
a  sure  symptom  of  its  vigour,  may  be  found  in  the  many 
Societies  which  were  then  founded  and  flourished.  Among 
the  earliest  were  those  which  were  called  simply 

The  Religious  Societies.  The  origin  of  these  was  very 
humble.1  About  the  year  1678,  a  few  young  men  in  London 
of  the  middle  class  were  deeply  impressed  by  the  stirring 
preaching  of  Dr.  Horneck  at  the  Savoy  Chapel,  and  the 
morning  lectures  of  Mr.  Smythies  at  S.  Michael's,  Cornhill, 
which  were  specially  designed  for  the  young.  As  good 
churchmen,  these  young  men  consulted  their  clergyman ; 
thus  it  happened  that  several  met  at  the  same  house  on 
the  same  errand,  and,  being  kindred  spirits,  naturally 
formed  an  acquaintance  with  one  another.  It  is  said  that 
the  existence  of  some  clubs  of  Atheists,  Deists,  and  Socinians 
suggested  to  them  the  idea  of  banding  themselves  together 
in  what  they  called  '  Societies.' 2  Probably  they  were 
advised  to  do  so  by  their  clergy,  especially  by  Dr.  Horneck 
and  Mr.  Smythies,  the  former  of  whom  is  called  by  one 
who  knew  the  circumstances  thoroughly  their  'father.'3 
The  Societies  were  conducted  most  strictly  on  the  lines  of 
the  Church's  teaching.  None  were  to  be  admitted  as 

1  See  A  Sliort  Account  of  the  several  Societies  set  up  of  late  years,  &c. 
published  about  1700. 

2  See  Dr.  Josiah  Woodward's  Account  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the 
Ilelirjious  Societies. 

3  Dr.  Woodward,  ut  supra. 


208          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

members  except  young  men  above  sixteen  years  of  age  who 
had  been  confirmed.     They  were  to  choose  a  clergyman  to 
direct  them,  and  their  meetings  were  to  be  strictly  devotional. 
They  were  to  use  no  prayers  at  their  meetings  except  those 
of  the  Church,  and  'none  that  peculiarly  belong  to  the 
minister,  as   the   absolution.'      The   minister  whom   they 
chose    was   to    'direct  what   practical   divinity  was  to  be 
road.'     After  prayer  and  reading  they  were  '  to  have  liberty 
to  sing  a  psalm,'  and  after  all  this  was  done,  if  there  was 
any  time  left,  '  they  might  discourse  with  each  other  about 
their  spiritual  concerns,'  but  this  was  'not  to  be  a  standing 
exercise  which  any  should  be  obliged  to  attend  unto.'    After 
many  other  excellent  practical  rules,  the  last  is  that  they 
were  to  '  love  one  another,  when  reviled  not  to  revile  again, 
speak  evil  of  no  man,  wrong  no  man,  pray,   if  possible,' 
seven  times  a  day,  keep  close  to  the  Church  of  England,  &c.'  l 
They  were  to  meet  once  a  week,  and   at   every  meeting 
'  consider  the  wants  of  the  poor,'2  and  each  member  was  to 
bring  a  weekly  contribution  proportionate  to  his  means.' 
The  accession  of  James  II.  caused  some  change  in  their 
proceedings.      Owing  to  the  dread  of  Eomanism,  private 
meetings  began  to  be  suspected.     So  the  Societies  changed 
for  a  time  their  name  to  'Clubs,'  as  having  a  less  sus 
picious  sound,  and  '  instead  of  meeting  at  the  private  houses 
of  the  members,  met  at  some  public  house.'     Some  of  the 
members  shrank  back  for  fear  of  being  involved  in  a  charge 
of  Romanism,  but  others  gave  themselves  to  the  work  with 
all  the  more  zeal,  thinking  rightly  that  the  best  way  of 
opposing  Eomanism  wras  by  stimulating  the  zeal  and  piety  of 
English  churchmen.     Seeing  '  the  daily  Mass  celebrated  at 
the  Chapels  Eoyal  and  other  public  places,'  they  determined 
to  provide  counter  attractions.     They  commenced  by  pro 
curing  a  daily  service  at  S.  Clement  Danes,  '  where  they 
never  wanted  a  full  and  affectionate  congregation.'     They 

1  See  Bishop  Kidcler's  Life  of  Rev.  Anthony  Horneck,  D.D. 

2  Woodward,  ut  supra. 


RELIGIOUS   AND    PHILANTHROPICAL    SOCIETIES 

next  set  •  up  a  monthly  evening  lecture  in  the  same  church 
'  to  confirm  communicants  in  their  holy  vows,'  and  at  this 
lecture  '  the  most  eminent  divines  about  the  city  used  to 
preach.'  l  Soon  after  the  Ke volution  a  new  rule  was  made, 
'  that  everyone  should  endeavour  to  bring  in  one  other  at 
least  into  the  Society.'  This  tended  wonderfully  to  increase 
their  numbers.  So,  also,  did  the  hearty  support  of  the 
dignitaries  of  the  Church,  who  at  first,  not  perhaps  unnatu 
rally,  looked  with  some  suspicion  upon  the  new  movement. 
Was  it  not  like  setting  up  a  Church  within  a  Church? 
Would  it  not  lead  to  schism  —  to  faction  —  to  spiritual 
pride'?  Such  rumours  were  in  the  air;  in  fact  the  case 
was  so  misrepresented  to  the  bishops,  that  the  Societies 
wisely  determined  '  to  address  an  Apology  to  the  Bishop  of 
London  '  (Compton),  that  is,  they  sent  what  we  should 
now  call  a  *  deputation  '  to  his  lordship,  for  we  are  told  that 
he  dismissed  them  with  '  God  forbid  that  I  should  be  against 
such  excellent  designs.'  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  coun 
tenance  given  by  the  Diocesan,  and  by  the  Archbishop  of  the 
Province  (Tillotson),  greatly  increased  the  popularity  of 
the  Societies,  and  this  was  further  promoted  by  the  interest 
which  the  queen  took  in  them  ; 2  but  the  credit  of  leading 
them  into,  and  keeping  them  in  a  right  channel,  must 
unquestionably  be  given  to  those  clergymen  who  personally 
directed  them  ;  first  and  foremost  to  Dr.  Horneck,  who 
was  not  only  their  chief  originator,  but  also,  as  his  bio 
grapher  tells  us,  *  had  the  care  of  several  societies  of  young 
men ; ' 3  then  to  Dr.  Beveridge,  whose  great  name  was  of 
itself  sufficient  to  keep  any  scheme  afloat ;  then  to  Mr. 
Smythies,  and  a  little  later,  to  Dr.  Bray,  '  to  whose  memory; 
most  of  the  Religious  Societies  in  London  owed  grateful 

1  Woodward,  ut  supra. 

2  '  Our  late  gracious  queen,'  writes  Defoe,  '  took  great  satisfaction  in 
these  Religious  Societies.'     (Account  of  the  Societies  for  the  Reformation  of 
Manners,  p.  16.) 

3  Kidder's -Life  of  Horneck. 

P 


2  TO          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

acknowledgments,  being  in  a  great  measure  formed  on  the 
plans  he  projected';1  and  finally  to  Dr.  Woodward,  who 
defended  and  helped  them  with  his  pen.  These  were  the 
men  who  prevented  enthusiasm  from  degenerating  into 
fanaticism,  and  kept  it  well  within  the  sober  limits  of  the 
Church  of  England.  In  1710  there  were  no  less  than  forty- 
two  Keligious  Societies  in  London  and  Westminster,  besides 
a  great  number  in  the  various  large  towns  in  the  kingdom. 
One  of  their  most  ardent  supporters  was  "Robert  Nelson, 
who  took  them  as  a  text  for  one  of  his  appeals  to  '  Persons 
of  Quality,'  arguing  that  '  if  a  few  persons,  on  no  account 
considerable,  and  whose  names  are  hardly  known,'  could 
do  so  much  to  promote  the  life  and  spirit  of  Christianity, 
(  Persons  of  Quality  '  might  surely  do  much  more.2 

Let  us  see  what  the  Societies  had  done.  Their  con 
temporary  historian  is  fully  borne  out  by  other  testimony 
when  he  affirms  that  '  it  is  evident  even  to  demonstration 
that  their  zeal  hath  in  many  places  given  new  life  to  the 
celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  public  prayers,  singing  of 
psalms  &c.'3  The  experiment  commenced  at  S.  Clement 
Danes  was  extended  far  and  wide.  Daily  public  prayers, 
celebrations  of  the  Holy  Communion  every  Lord's  day  and 
other  festival,  and  preparation  sermons  or  lectures  for  the 
Holy  Communion,  were,  with  the  permission  of  the  incum 
bent,  established  in  very  many  churches  at  the  cost  of  the 
Societies.  A  very  common  notice  in  '  Pietas  Londinensis  ' 
is,  '  prayers  &c.  provided  by  a  Eeligious  Society.'  Great 
stress  was  laid  upon  the  Holy  Communion,  not  only  as  the 
central  service  of  the  Church,  but  also  as  '  the  best  means 
to  prevent  men  from  apostatising  by  confirming  their  vows 
and  relieving  their  spiritual  strength.' 4  Not  only  did  their 
members  not  apostatise  themselves,  they  also  prevented 

1  Public  Spirit  Illustrated  in  the  Life  and  Designs  of  Dr.  Bray  (pub 
lished  1746). 

*  See  A  Representation  of  the  Ways  and  Methods  of  Doing  Good,  ap 
pended  to  An  Address  to  Persons  of  Quality  (published  1715). 

3  Woodward,  ut  supra.  4  Woodward. 


RELIGIOUS    AND    PIIILANTHROPTCAL    SOCIETIES      2  I  I 

many  others  from  doing  so.  We  learn  from  quite  an  inde 
pendent  source  that  they  '  promoted  family  religion  '  (which 
in  the  reaction  against  Puritanism  had  rather  fallen  into 
disuse  in  favour  of  public  prayer),  brought  many  Quakers 
to  Holy  Baptism,  and  preserved  many  from  Popery.1  Their 
works  of  charity  were  various  and  extensive.  They  '  visited 
the  poor  at  their  houses  and  relieved  them,  fixed  some  in  a 
way  of  trade,  set  prisoners  at  liberty,  furthered  poor  scholars 
in  their  subsistence  at  the  University,' 2  contributed  largely  to 
Dr.  Bray's  missionary  projects,  and  were  greatly  instru 
mental  in  establishing  nearly  one  hundred  charity  schools 
in  London,  as  well  as  others  in  the  country.  But  all  was 
subservient  to  the  extension  and  improvement  of  public 
worship,  and  so  successful  were  they  in  this,  the  main  part 
of  their  work,  that,  in  the  language  of  a  historian  who 
wrote  a  little  time  after  their  collapse,  '  Prayers  were  set  up 
in  so  many  places  and  hours  [in  London]  that  devout 
persons  might  have  that  comfort  every  hour  of  the  day,  and 
there  were  greater  numbers  and  greater  appearance  of  devo 
tion  at  prayers  and  sacraments  than  had  been  observed  in 
the  memory  of  man.' 3 

Of  course  their  success  was  to  a  great  extent  owing  to 
the  fact  that  they  harmonised  thoroughly  with  the  general 
feeling.  They  had  not  to  create  the  demand  before  they 
offered  the  supply.  There  was  a  strong  devotional  spirit 
abroad,  which  could  find  vent  only  in  one  direction.  The 
nation's  experience  of  Puritanism  on  the  one  hand,  or 
Eomanism  on  the  other,  was  too  recent  to  allow  it  to  tolerate 
for  one  moment  anything  that  savoured  of  either.  The 
Religious  Societies  supplied  additional  opportunities  of  de 
votions  of  a  purely  Anglican  type,  and  therefore  they  carried 
the  town,  we  may  almost  say  the  nation,  along  with  them. 
But  none  the  less  is  it  to  their  credit  that  they  alienated  no 

1  Anglus  Notifies,  by  John  Chamberlayne,  Part  III.,  continuation  of 
Edward  Chamberlayne's  (the  father's)  work,  p.  340. 

-  Woodward.  s  Tindal's  Continuation  of  Eapin,  vol.  xiv.  pp.  437-8. 


212          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

one  by  their  extravagance  or  inconsistency.    After  they  had 
been  thirty-two  years  in  existence,  their  historian  could  call 
attention  with  perfect  truth  '  to  the  humble  and  inoffensive 
behaviour,'  as  well  as  '  to  the  blooming  piety  of  the  orthodox 
and  sober  persons '  who  composed  them.1     They  did  what 
they  did,  and  enough  has  surely  been  said  to  show  that 
it  was  very  considerable,  without  the  slightest  ostentation, 
without  even  letting  their  names  be  known.     They  were 
content  to  work  quietly  on  under  the  direction  of   their 
clergyman,  looking  for,  and  finding  their  reward,  not  in  the 
praise  of  men,  but  in  the  really  useful  results  which  they 
achieved.     Among  their  warmest  supporters  was  the  rector 
of  Epworth,  Mr.  Wesley.     A  '  Letter  concerning  Keligious 
Societies '  (1699), 2  and  a  '  Sermon  preached  to  one  of  the 
Keligious  Societies '  (1698),  full  of  most  seasonable  advice 
to  its  members,  are  still  extant.    There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
father  handed  down  his  sentiments  on  the  subject  to  his  more 
famous  son,  and  that  John  Wesley  intended  his  Societies  to 
be  an  exact  repetition   of   what  was  done   by  Beveridge, 
Horneck,  and  Smythies  sixty-two  years  before,3 — in  fact  he 
himself  constantly  refers  to  his  '  going  to  a  Society.'     How 
it  was  that  the  Methodist  Societies  took  a  different  course 
is  a  very  interesting,  and,  to  a   churchman,  a  very  sad 
question,    but  it   does  not  come  within  the   scope  of  this 
work. 

One  word  must  be  added  on  the  causes  of  the  collapse  of 
the  Keligious  Societies.  One  cause  was  that  old,  old  trouble 
which  has  so  often  interfered  with  the  progress  of  Church 
life,  and  never  more  than  during  the  period  with  which  this 
work  is  concerned,  the  mixing  up  of  politics  with  religion. 
The  Societies  came  to  be  suspected  of  Jacobite  tendencies. 
They  were  especially  charged  with  using  their  influence  over 

1  Woodward. 

2  This  letter  is  appended  to  his  Pious  Communicant  rightly  Prepared, 
and  the  sermon  is  among  a  collection  of  Spital  Sermons  and  others  of  the 
date  bound  up  in  one  volume. 

3  Tyerman's  Life  ami  Times  of  Samuel  Wesley,  p.  226. 


RELIGIOUS    AND    PHILANTHROPICAL    SOCIETIES     213 

the  charity  schools  for  political  purposes  ;  the  charges  against 
them  on  this  score  were  very  vague,  but  they  were  quite 
sufficient,  in  the  sensitive  state  of  men's  minds,  to  cast  dis 
credit  upon  them.  Then,  again,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  the 
clergymen  of  the  second  generation  of  the  Societies'  exist 
ence  were  not  men  of  so  high  a  type  spiritually  as  their 
predecessors,  and  as  it  was  of  the  essence  of  the  Societies 
to  take  their  tone  entirely  from  the  clergy  who  had  the  ex 
clusive  direction  of  them,  this  told  sadly  to  their  disadvantage. 
But  the  chief  cause  of  all  was  that  they  became  confused 
with  another  class  of  Societies,  from  which  they  were  in 
reality  perfectly  distinct,  though  the  same  individuals  wero 
often  members  of  both,  and  though  the  two  kinds  are  fre 
quently  grouped  together,  not  only  by  later  historians,  but 
also  in  contemporary  records.1  This  latter  class  of  Societies 
we  have  now  to  consider. 

The  Societies  for  the  Reformation  of  Manners  were  first 
formed  in  1692  with  the  laudable  aim  of  checking  the 
prevalent  immorality  by  bringing  offenders  under  the  arm 
of  the  civil  power.  They  were  set  on  foot  by  five  or  six 
gentlemen  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  these  were  soon 
joined  by  others,  both  churchmen  and  dissenters.  They 
proceeded  upon  the  principle  of  a  division  of  labour,  one 
Society,  composed  of  lawyers  and  magistrates,  devoting  itself 
to  the  work  of  putting  the  laws  into  force  and  of  getting 
subscriptions  to  the  expenses  of  prosecutions,  another,  com 
posed  of  tradesmen,  to  the  suppression  of-  debauchery  in 
the  streets,  another,  to  the  somewhat  invidious  task  of 
informers,  and  so  forth.  In  1691,  before  the  Societies  were 
formed,  the  gentlemen  who  had  the  design  in  view,  induced 
the  queen,  through  the  medium  of  Bishop  Stillingfleet  who 
had  great  influence  over  her,  to  issue  royal  letters 

1  Even  the  title  of  Woodward's  work  is  confusing  :  An  Account  of  the 
Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Religious  Societies,  and  of  their  endeavours  for 
the  Reformation  of  Manners.  Of  course  he  clearly  distinguishes  between 
the  two  in  the  body  of  his  work. 


214          LIFE    IN    TIIE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

admonishing  the  magistrates  to  do  their  duty.  Magis 
trates'  orders  were  sent  all  over  the  kingdom,  and  '  blank 
warrants  lodged  for  the  ease  of  informers  '  &C.1 —  a  very 
hazardous  proceeding.  Archbishop  Tillotson  took  the  matter 
up  warmly,  and  so  did  his  successor,  Archbishop  Tenison, 
who  issued  a  circular  letter  to  his  suffragans,  begging 
them  to  urge  their  clergy  to  help  on  the  good  work.  The 
contemporary  evidence  is  too  strong  to  permit  us  to  doubt 
that  a  considerable  effect  was  produced.  Within  ten  years 
from  their  formation,  a  contemporary  declares  that  they 
1  had  prospered  to  a  degree  exceedingly  great,  beyond  what 
human  wisdom  did  or  could  expect ;  '  that  '  more  than 
twenty  thousand  persons  had  been  convicted  of  swearing, 
cursing,  and  profanation  of  the  Lord's  day  in  and  about 
London  and  Westminster,'  and  that  '  about  three  thousand 
lewd  and  disorderly  persons  had  been  punished  within  the 
same  limits.' 2  In  1705  Bishop  Compton  publicly  testified 
in  the  House  of  Lords  to  the  beneficial  effects  they  had 
produced  in  the  suppression  of  vice.3  Defoe  affirmed  in 
1699  that  '  they  had  proved  so  exceedingly  serviceable  in 
the  work  of  Keformation  that  they  might  be  reckoned  a 
chief  support  to  it.' 4  Dr.  Woodward  writes  to  the  same 
effect.  Mr.  Disney,  about  1708,  writes  in  rapturous  terms 
about  the  'glorious  success'  of  the  Societies.5  Mr.  Brad 
ford,  rector  of  S.  Mary-le-Bow,  afterwards  Bishop  of 
Carlisle,  declared  in  a  sermon  in  1709  that  '  they  had  not 
been  without  considerable  effect.' 6  Eobert  Nelson  writes 

1  Woodward. 

2  A  Short  Account  of  the  several  Kinds  of  Societies  set  up  of  late  years, 
&c.     This  must  have  been  written  about  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  cen 
tury,  for  it  speaks  of  the  rise  of  the  lleligious  Societies  '  about  twenty  years 
since.' 

3  See  Eapin  (TindaVs  Continuation],  vol.  xvi.  p.  208. 

4  Account  of  the  Societies  for  the  Reformation  of  Manners,  &c. 

5  Essay  upon  the  Execution  of  the  Laws  against  Immorality  and  Pro- 
faneness,  by  J.  Disney,  Esq.  (afterwards  the  Rev.).     Robert  Nelson  thought 
this  work  '  unanswerably  convincing.' 

6  The  sermon  is  in  a  volume  containing  a  collection  of  Spital  Sermons 


RELIGIOUS    AND    PHILANTHROPIC AL    SOCIETIES      215 

strongly    about    their   effectiveness,    and   so   does   Bishop 
Bull.1 

It  has  been  thought  desirable  to  quote  this  contemporary 
evidence  (which  might  have  been  multiplied  to  a  much 
greater  extent),  because  some  later  historians  have  given  a 
different  impression,  and  they  are  borne  out  by  one  great  man 
at  least,  Dean  Swift,2  and  by  several  anonymous  writers,3 
but  the  weight  of  contemporary  evidence  preponderates  over 
whelmingly  in  favour  of  their  effectiveness. 

That  they  should  have  raised  great  opposition  is  cer 
tainly  not  surprising.  It  is  one  thing  to  promote  religion 
and  virtue  by  moral  persuasion  and  example,  quite  another 
to  call  in  the  strong  arm  of  the  law.  From  the  time  of 
the  Athenian  '  sycophants  '  downwards,  the  very  name  of 
'  informer  '  has  had  an  odious  sound  about  it.  Defoe  is 
most  unjust  in  insinuating  that  the  great  men  who  held 
aloof  from  the  Societies  were  instigated  by  mere  timidity 
and  over-caution.4  This  certainly  was  not  the  case  with 
Archbishop  Sharp,  who  tells  us  plainly  enough  his  reasons 
for  hesitating  about  joining  the  Societies,  and  very  weighty 
reasons  they  are.  Bishop  (afterwards  Archbishop)  Nicol- 
son,  again,  who  is  much  less  guarded  in  his  opposition  to 
the  Societies,  cannot  possibly  be  suspected  of  timidity  ; 5  and 
still  less  can  Dr.  Sacheverell,  one  of  their  most  vehement 
opponents,  whose  faults  lay  in  quite  a  different  direction. 
The  fact  is,  the  Societies,  well  meant  and  probably  effective 
as  they  were,  seem  to  have  committed  the  converse  of  an 
error  which  was  very  prevalent  at  the  time.  The  penal 
laws  against  nonconformists  are  an  instance  of  the  State 

and  Sermons  for  the  Charity  Schools,  preached  in  the  first  few  years  of  the 
eighteenth  century. 

1  See  Nelson's  Life  of  Bull,  pp.  208  and  290. 

2  See  Swift's  Project  for  the  Advancement  of  Religion  and  Reformation 
of  Manners.     (Swift's  Works,  Scott's  edition,  vol.  vii.  p.  99.) 

3  See,  inter  alia,  Reformation  of  Manners.     A  Satyr.     1702. 

4  Account  of  the  Societies  for  Reformation  of  Manners. 

5  See  Archbishop  Nicolson's  Correspondence,  pp.  146,  171-7,  &c. 


2l6          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

interfering  in  the  province  of  the  Church,  these  Societies  are 
an  instance  of  the  Church  interfering  in  the  province  of  the 
State.  No  such  objection  can  be  raised  against  the  other 
Societies  which  were  formed  at  this  period. 

The  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge  is  the 
mother  of  several  of  these,  but  she  herself  may  be  called 
the  daughter  of  the  Keligious  Societies,  inasmuch  as  it 
was  the  spirit  awakened  by  these  Societies  which,  more  than 
anything  else,  called  her  into  existence, '  and  moreover  these 
Societies  interested  themselves  largely  in  procuring  sub 
scriptions  for  her.2  The  Society  however  would  never  have 
been  established  but  for  the  indefatigable  and  self-denying 
efforts  of  one  man,  Dr.  Bray.  He  it  was  who  first 
endeavoured,  in  more  ways  than  one,  to  gain  help  from 
public  sources,  and  failing  this,  determined  to  set  on  foot  a 
voluntary  Society.  He  it  was  who  drew  up  the  plan  of  the 
Society,  and  on  March  8,  169J  (a  memorable  date),  met 
four  other  Christian  men,  all  laymen,  and  virtually  es 
tablished  it.  The  names  of  these  notable  five  were,  Francis, 
Lord  Guildford,  Sir  Humphrey  Mackworth,  Justice  Hook, 
Colonel  Maynard  Colchester,  and,  last  but  not  least>  Dr. 
Thomas  Bray.  The  first  resolution  at  this  first  meeting 
had  reference  to  the  design  of '  erecting  catechetical  schools  in 
every  parish  in  and  about  London  ;  '  then  Dr.  Bray  was  re 
quested  to  lay  before  the  Society  his  scheme  for  promoting 
religion  in  the  Plantations  ;  then  the  five  members  agreed  to 
contribute  12L  towards  the  printing  of  good  books  to  be  circu 
lated  among  the  poor,  steps  having  been  previously  taken  for 
founding  lending  libraries  in  America.  In  1701  the  Earl 
of  Marlborough  applied  for  and  received  from  the  Society 
books  for  the  troops  under  his  command  ;  and  about  the 
same  time  Admiral  Benbow  and  Sir  G.  Kooke  began  to 
distribute  the  Society's  books  in  the  fleet.  But  it  was  not 
until  1705  that  the  Society  agreed  to  set  apart  a  portion  of 

1  See  Perry's  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  iii.  p.  90. 

2  See  Anglice  Notitice,  Part  III.,  pp.  340-5. 


RELIGIOUS    AND    PHILANTHROPICAL    SOCIETIES      217 

its  funds  to  furnish  the  poor  in  the  country  with  Bibles  and 
Prayer  Books  at  a  cheap  rate. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  Society  at  first  embraced 
within  its  province  what  afterwards  became  the  work  of 
several  other  associations  ;  and  nothing  shews  the  courage, 
let  us  rather  say  the  faith,  of  this  little  band  of  men  more  than 
the  contrast  between  the  magnitude  of  their  designs  and 
the  smallness  of  the  company  engaged  in  them.  The  sixth 
member  elected  was  John  Chamberlayne,  the  first  secretary 
of  the  Society;  then  others  quickly  followed;  but  at  the 
first  eight  meetings  (which  were  held  weekly),  only  five 
members  were  present.  Well  may  the  Jubilee  Tract,  pub 
lished  150  years  later,  be  entitled  *  Great  Success  from 
small  Beginnings.' 

To  this  tract  (which  gives  a  full  account  of  the  rise  and 
progress  of  the  Society),  and  to  other  easily  accessible  works, 
the  reader  must  be  referred  if  he  desires  to  fill  up  this 
very  meagre  sketch  of  the  first  beginnings  of  this  grand 
old  Society.1  It  can  here  only  be  noticed  in  connection  with 
the  Church  life  of  the  period ;  and  one  point  strikes  us 
especially  in  this  connection.  It  is  pleasing  to  observe  the 
names  of  men  of  all  parties  in  the  Church  among  the 
earliest  and  warmest  supporters  of  a  Society  which  was 
designed  for  the  whole  Church,  not  any  one  section  of  it 
exclusively.  We  hear  of  Tenison  and,  Burnet  and  Kidcler 
and  Fowler  and  Kennet  joining  with  Patrick  and  Lloyd  and 
Thomas  Wilson  and  R.  Nelson  and  S.  Wesley,  all  apparently 
in  perfect  harmony.  In  fact,  one  of  the  most  interesting 
features  in  the  early  history  of  the  S.P.C.K.  is  the  varied 
characters  and  tastes  of  its  supporters.  Though  of  a  strictly 
Church  type,  it  was  not  composed  of  a  clerical  clique,  that 
is,  of  clergymen  who  had  no  interests  beyond  what  may  be 

1  Jubilee  Tract ;  Great  Success  from  small  Beginnings.  An  Account  of 
the  five  original  Members  of  the  S.P.C.K.  T.  B.  Murray,  1849  ;  Anderson's 
History  of  the  Colonial  Church ;  Public  Spirit  Illustrated  in  the  Life  and 
Designs  of  Dr.  Bray ;  Historical  Notices  of  the  Missions  of  the  Church  of 
England,  <£c.,  E.  Hawkins,  1845,  &c.  &c. 


2l8          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

termed  the  technicalities  of  their  profession,  and  of  laymen 
rather  more  clerical  than  the  clergy.  Both  clergy  and  laity 
were  men  of  wide  and  general  interests.  Among  the  first 
five  members  were  a  famous  lawyer,  a  knight  and  a  soldier ; 
and  among  the  earlier  supporters  were  William  Melmoth,  a 
bencher  of  the  Temple,  Blackmore,  the  physician,  Strype, 
the  antiquary,  Gilbert  White,  the  naturalist,  John  Evelyn, 
of  *  Silva '  fame,  and  Ernest  Grabe,  the  universal  scholar. 
As  another  instance  of  the  width  of  their  sympathies,  it 
may  be  mentioned  that  they  opened  a  correspondence  with 
some  foreigners  distinguished  for  their  active  piety, — 
Francke  of  Halle,  Osterwald  of  Neufchatel,  Jablonski  of 
Berlin,  and  others.1 

It  is  difficult  to  describe  the  early  work  of  the  Society 
(which,  by  the  way,  for  the  first  ten  years  of  its  existence 
was  called  the  Society  for  Propagating  Christian  Knowledge), 
without  entrenching  upon  provinces  which  originally  belonged 
to  it,  but  afterwards  became  the  work  of  separate  organi 
sations.  By  slow  degrees  the  work  which  is  now  specially 
connected  with  the  Society  became  its  chief  work.  In  1709 
a  preacher  places  first  of  all  among  the  objects  of  the  Society, 
to  '  dispense  plain  and  useful  books  among  the  common 
people.' 2  How  its  other  work  was  deputed  to  other  associa 
tions  will  be  seen  when  we  notice  its  various  daughter 
Societies. 

The  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts  was  the  eldest  and  most  important  of  them.  On  Dr. 
Bray's  return  from  Maryland  in  170J,  he  found  that  the 
various  designs  of  his  newly-founded  Society  were  too  exten 
sive  for  any  one  association.  He  therefore  proposed  the 
establishment  of  a  separate  Society  whose  object  should  be 
to  propagate  the  Gospel  throughout  the  foreign  possessions 

1  See  Anderson's  History  of  the  Colonial  Church,  ii.  p.  409. 

2  Sermon  at  S.  Sepulchre's  Church,  preached  June  16,  1709,  being  the 
Thursday  in  Whitsun-week,  the  anniversary  meeting  of  children  educated 
in  Charity  Schools  in  and  about  the  cities  of  London  and  Westminster,  by 
S.  Bradford,  Hector  of  S.  Mary-le-Bow. 


RELIGIOUS    AND    PIIILANTHROPICAL    SOCIETIES      219 

of  the  British  Empire.  The  work  had  already  engaged  the 
attention  of  Convocation,  and  would  probably  have  been 
carried  out  by  that  body;  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
credit  of  procuring  a  royal  charter  for  constituting  the  new 
Society  a  body  corporate,  belongs  primarily  to  Dr.  Bray, 
and  then  to  Archbishop  Tenison  and  Bishop  Compton,  who 
pressed  on  the  matter  in  a  way  that  perhaps  no  private 
clergymen  could  have  done.  These  three  names,  Bray, 
Tenison,  and  Compton,  are  the  three  which  stand  foremost 
in  the  floating  of  this  great  missionary  effort ;  and  to  these 
we  may  add  a  fourth,  that  of  Humphrey  Prideaux,  whose 
weighty  appeals  to  the  primate  six  years  earlier,  no  doubt 
contributed  to  secure  Tenison's  hearty  services.1  The 
27th  of  June,  1701,  is  a  memorable  date,  as  the  date  of  the 
first  meeting  of  the  Society  at  Lambeth  under  the  Arch 
bishop's  direction ;  the  names  of  those  present  shew  how 
closely  it  was  connected  with  the  S.P.C.K.,  of  which  it  was 
simply  an  offshoot.  The  self- same  men  were  the  supporters 
of  both  ;  the  older  Society  deputed  some  of  its  functions  to 
a  separate  corporation  ;  that  was  all.  It  is  necessary  to 
bear  this  fact  in  mind,  when  estimating  the  significance  of 
what  seems  a  grievous  oversight  in  these  early  missionary 
efforts.  From  a  churchman's  point  of  view,  a  Church 
without  a  bishop  is  a  body  without  a  head.  What  were  our 
pious  forefathers  about  when  they  established  this  sort  of 
acephalous  organisation  for  propagating  the  Gospel  on  dis 
tinctly  Church  principles,  for  they  certainly  did  intend  to 
act  on  Church  principles  ?  We  have  ample  evidence  that  the 
originators  and  first  workers  clearly  recognised  the  necessity 
of  providing  episcopal  supervision.  '  'Tis  a  dismal  thing,' 
writes  one  of  the  earliest  missionaries  in  Pennsylvania, 
'  to  consider  how  much  the  want  of  a  bishop  amongst  us 
has  retarded  the  progress  of  the  true  religion  in  America.' 2 

1  Letter   to  Archbishop  Tenison   on  his  first   promotion  to  the  Arch 
bishopric,  January,  169|-,  quoted  in  Life  of  Dean  Prideaiix,  p.  159. 

2  Memorial  on  the  State  of  the  Church  in  Pennsylvania,  most  humbly 


22O          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

1  I  am  very  glad,'  writes  another,  in  1709,  *  to  find  that  the 
members  of  the  Honourable  Society  are  convinced  that  a 
head  is  necessary  to  the  body,  but,  if  he  don't  make  haste 
he  will  come  too  late.' ]  *  You  can  neither  well  believe/ 
writes  another  missionary  in  the  same  year  to  the  secretary 
of  the  Society,  '  nor  I  express,  what  excellent  services  for  the 
cause  of  religion  a  bishop  would  do  in  these  parts  [Rhode 
Island].  These  infant  settlements  would  become  beautiful 
nurseries,  which  now  seem  to  languish  for  want  of  a  father 
to  oversee  and  bless  them.' 2  Governor  Nicholson  of  Vir 
ginia  wrote  to  the  same  effect  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canter 
bury.  And  the  subject  was,  almost  from  the  very  first, 
mooted  at  home.  In  1703  the  question  of  a  suffragan 
bishop  for  America  was  discussed.  In  1709  a  plan  was  half- 
formed  for  sending  a  bishop  to  Virginia,  Dean  Swift,  of  all 
men  in  the  world,  being  the  man  destined  for  the  post.  A 
memorial  was  presented  to  the  queen  on  the  subject  in 
1709,3  and  another  in  1713.  At  the  May  meeting  in  1712 
it  was  formally  resolved  that  '  it  is  very  expedient  to  estab 
lish  bishops  and  bishoprics  in  America.'  In  fact  it  has  been 
truly  said  that  '  the  Church  seemed  on  the  point  of  attain 
ing  the  object  at  which  she  had  so  long  aimed,  but  the 
queen's  death  soon  afterwards  put  an  end  to  arrangements.' 4 
If  it  be  thought  that  the  founders  of  the  Society  were  some 
what  slow  and  deliberate,  considering  the  importance  of  the 
matter,  it  should  be  remembered  that  a  Society  which  was, 
(as  has  been  said)  simply  the  offshoot  of  another  Society, 
would  naturally  be  tentative  in  its  efforts  at  first ;  that 
thirteen  years  are,  after  all,  not  a  very  long  period  in  the  life 
of  a  Church  which  already  numbered  nearly  as  many  cen- 

offered  to  the  Venerable  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  by  Eev. 
E.  Evans,  who  was  sent  by  the  Bishop  of  London  as  missionary  to  Phila 
delphia  in  1700. 

1  Eev.  —  Talbot,  quoted  in  Hawkins'  Historical  Notices  of  the  Missions 
of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  North  American  Colonies,  p.  144. 

'2  Eev.  J.  Honeyman,  quoted  by  Hawkins,  p.  166. 

3  See  Anderson,  iii.  73-4.  4  Hawkins,  p.  380-3. 


RELIGIOUS    AND    PHILANTHROPICAL    SOCIETIES     221 

turies ;  and  that  the  earnest  churchmen  who  founded  the 
Society  and  meant  to  found  bishoprics  in  connection  with  it 
had  not  the  faintest  conception  of  the  change  that  was 
coming  over  the  spirit  of  the  Church.     On  the  contrary, 
many  of  them  anticipated  halcyon  days  when  the  long  talked- 
of    '  Protestant  succession '  became  an  accomplished  fact. 
Even  after  the  accession  of  George  I.,  Archbishop  Tenison 
had  so  much  faith  in  the  project  that  he  left  1,OOOZ.  towards 
it  in  his  will.     Little  did  the  originators  dream  that  what 
they  had  all  but  accomplished  would  have  to  wait  not  very 
far  short  of  another  century  before  it  took  a  tangible  shape  ! 
Our  concern,  however,  is  with  what  the  Society  did,  not 
with  what  it  did  not  do.     From  the  beginning  its  work  was 
twofold,  viz.,  as  the  charter  expresses  it,  '  to  provide  learned 
and  orthodox  ministers  for  our  loving  subjects,'  and  '  to  make 
other  such  provision  as  may  be  necessary  for  propagating 
the  gospel  in  those  parts  ;  '  or,  as  Dr.  Willis,  the  preacher 
of  the  first  anniversary  sermon,  in  1702,  more  fully  states 
it :  '  the  design  is,  in  the  first  place,  to  settle  the  state  of 
religion  as  well  as  may  be  among  our  own  people  in  the 
foreign   Plantations;    and   then   to   proceed,    in   the   best 
methods  they  can,  towards  the  conversion  of  the  natives.' 
Bishop  Burnet  spoke  to  the  same  effect  in  his  sermon  in 
1703.     A  singular  interest  is  attached  to  these  early  anni 
versary  sermons.     We  learn  from  the  first  of  them,  that 
the  Romanists  had  made  capital  out  of  the  apathy  of  the 
English  Church  as  contrasted  with  their  own  vigour  in  the 
Plantations,  and  Dean  Willis  '  wishes  we  could  give  the  best 
answer  by  denying  the  matter  of  fact.'     Bishop  Williams 
of  Chichester  refers  to  the  same  subject  in  the  sermon  of 
1706.     In  1707   Bishop  Beveridge  speaks  most  hopefully 
of  the  work  of  the  Society  in  his  very  eloquent  anniversary 
sermon  ;  but  the  sermon  which  appears  to  have  produced 
the  greatest  effect  was  that  of  Bishop  Fleetwood,  in  1711, 
which  was  circulated  far  and  wide. 

The  income  of   the  Society  during   the  first  thirteen 


222          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

years  of  its  existence  did  not  exceed  1,00(M.  a  year  on  an 
average.  As  to  the  proportions  contributed  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  a  Lincolnshire  man  may  be  pardoned 
for  noticing  with  some  pride  that  Lincolnshire  held  the  first 
place,  with  Devonshire  not  far  behind.  A  Lincolnshire 
landowner,  Sir  E.  Turner,  and  a  Lincolnshire  clergyman, 
Mr.  Adamson,  vicar  of  Burton  Goggles,  were  mainly  instru 
mental  in  introducing  the  system  of  '  deputations,'  that 
term  meaning,  not,  as  now,  persons  deputed  to  advocate 
the  claims  of  the  Society,  but  persons  deputed  to  receive 
subscriptions.  Among  laymen  who  took  an  active  part  in 
the  working  of  the  Society,  besides  those  mentioned  in  con 
nection  with  the  S.P.C.K.,  were  Sir  John  Chardin,  the  great 
traveller,  and  Nicholson,  Governor  of  Virginia ;  and  among 
the  clergy,  Simon  Patrick,  Bishop  of  Ely,  whose  deep  interest 
in  the  Society  was,  it  has  been  suggested,1  one  reason  why 
all  Bishops  of  Ely  are  ex  officio  constituted  members  by 
charter,  Bishop  White  Kennet,  and  Mr.  Burkitt,  vicar  of 
Dedham.  Queen  Anne  *  put  new  life  into  its  work '  at 
her  accession,2  and  continued  to  interest  herself  greatly 
in  it  all  through  her  reign.  She  appointed  a  day  (Trinity 
Sunday),  when  '  a  general  collection  should  be  made  every 
year  for  the  funds  of  the  Society,'  and  issued  a  Eoyal 
Letter  in  1713,  which  brought  in  the  goodly  sum  of  3,060L3 
Parochial  Libraries  sprang  directly  from  the  missionary 
zeal  of  the  indefatigable  Dr.  Bray.  When  he  was  appointed 
the  Bishop  of  London's  commissary  for  Maryland  in  1696, 
his  first  effort  was  to  procure  books  for  the  clergy  who  were 
to  serve  abroad,  for  he  thought  that  as  these  clergy  '  were 
likely  to  be  of  the  poorer  sort,  they  would  be  ill  able  to 
procure  even  the  most  necessary  books  for  themselves.' 
The  reasonableness  of  his  appeal  was  generally  recognised, 

1  Anderson,  iii.  30.  2  See  Anglicc  Notilifz,  Part  III.,  p.  340. 

3  It  has  not  been  thought  necessary  to  give  authority  for  all  the  facts 
mentioned  in  the  sketch.  They  may  be  found  in  any  popular  history,  such 
as  Anderson's,  Hawkins',  &c. 


RELIGIOUS    AND    PHILANTHROPICAL    SOCIETIES      223 

but  some  objected  that  the  poor  clergy  in  England  were  in 
equal  need  of  books,  and  that  their  wants  ought  to  be 
supplied  first.  This  objection  only  opened  out  a  fresh  field 
for  Dr.  Bray's  activity.  Without  in  the  least  relaxing  his 
efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Plantations,  he  *  thought  it  well 
to  hit  the  nail  that  would  drive,'  and  threw  himself  with 
characteristic  energy  into  another  scheme,  the  object  of 
which  was  to  establish  parochial  and  lending  libraries  in 
every  deanery  throughout  England  and  Wales,  libraries  for 
students  about  to  take  Holy  Orders,  and  libraries  for 
schools  poorly  endowed.  In  1697  he  published  a  tract  which 
shewed  that  he  was  ready  with  his  plan  in  all  its  details.1 
This  was  quickly  followed  by  another  especially  addressed  to 
the  clergy,2  and  in  1702  he  again  returned  to  the  charge.3 
The  tracts  were  so  effective  that  it  is  worth  while  quoting  a 
passage  or  two.  '  For  our  younger  gentry,'  he  writes,  '  I 
cannot  but  think  it  would  tend  extremely  to  furnish  their 
minds  with  that  useful  knowledge  as  will  render  'em  ser 
viceable  to  their  families  and  countries,  and  will  make  'em 
considerable  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  will  keep  'em 
from  idle  conversation  and  the  debaucheries  attending  it, 
to  have  choice  collections  of  such  books  dispersed  thro'  all 
the  kingdom,  and  waiting  upon  'em  in  their  own  parlours, 
as  will  ennoble  their  minds  with  principles  of  virtue  and 
true  honour,  and  will  file  off  that  roughness,  ferity,  and 
barbarity  which  are  the  never-failing  fruits  of  ignorance 
and  illiterature.'  4  Addressing  the  clergy  he  writes  :  '  The 
truth  is,  there  are  a  sort  of  writers  which  are  traditionally 
handed  down  from  one  old  study  to  another,  who  are  not 
such  a  good-humoured  and  inviting  society  as  to  make  one 
delight  much  in  their  conversation.  But  what  man  of 
spirit  or  education,  had  he  a  Justin  Martyr,  a  Tertullian 

1  An  Essay  towards  promoting  all  necessary  and  useful  Knowledge,  both 
divine  and  human,  in  all  parts  of  His  Majesty's  Dominions. 

2  Bibliotheca  Parochialis  ;  or  a  scheme  of  such  theological  heads  as  are 
requisite  to  be  studied  by  every  Pastor  of  a  Parish. 

3  Bibliotheca  Catechetica.  4  An  Essay  <&c.,  ut  supra. 


224          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

or  Cyprian  ;  a  Sanderson,  a  Hammond  or  Tillotson  come 
to  visit  him,  would  leave  such  men  of  sense  for  the  society 
of  the  sons  of  Belial !  '  » 

The  good  man's  efforts  were  not  in  vain.  The  names  of 
Lord  Digby  (Bray's  faithful  friend  and  patron),2  the  Earl 
of  Thanet,  Viscount  Weymouth,  and,  of  course,  Kobert 
Nelson,  are  conspicuous  among  those  who  helped  both  with 
money  and  counsel.3  One  of  the  first  to  recognise  the 
usefulness  of  the  scheme  was  Bishop  Wilson,  who  as  early 
as  1699  began  to  found,  with  the  help  of  Dr.  Bray,  lending 
libraries  in  the  Isle  of  Man,  and  succeeded  in  establishing  six 
teen  in  that  small  island.4  The  success  wras  not  quite  so  great 
in  proportion  in  the  neighbouring  island  of  Great  Britain, 
but  it  was  fairly  encouraging.  Sixty-seven  libraries  are  said 
to  have  been  established,  and  the  matter  assumed  such  im 
portance  that  in  1709  a  Bill  was  passed  in  Parliament  '  for 
the  better  preserving  of  parochial  libraries  ;  '  and  before 
Dr.  Bray's  death,  a  Society  was  formed  under  the  title  of 
the  '  Associates  of  Dr.  Bray,'  which  still  exists.5 

Charity  Schools.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  very  first 
object  specified  as  the  design  of  the  S.P.C.K.  in  1698  was 
the  education  of  the  poor ;  and  most  nobly  was  this  design 
carried  out  by  the  Society  during  the  sixteen  years  of  its 
history  with  which  this  work  is  concerned.  But  though  the 
Society  gave  a  most  powerful  stimulus  to  the  work,  it  cannot 
be  said  to  have  originated  it,  nor  even  the  particular  form 

1  Bibliotheca  ParocMalis. 

-  He  founded  two  libraries,  at  Coleshill  and  Overwhitacre.  (See  Life  of 
RawUt.) 

3  See,  Account  of  the  Designs  of  the  Associates  of  the  late  Dr.  Bray,  1769. 
Nelson  recommends  the  scheme  to  '  persons  of  quality '  in  his  Ways  and 
Means  of  Doing  Good. 

4  Cruttwell's  Life  of  Bishop  Wilson,  p.  59. 

5  Tenison,  when  rector   of  S.  Martin's  in  the  Fields,  was  a  precursor 
of  Bray;  he  founded  there  the  first  free  library  in  the  kingdom  in  1684, 
and,  with  the  help  of  Sir  C.  Wren,  raised  a  suitable  building  for  it.     The 
valuable  library  was  sold  in  1861,  and  the  money  applied  to  middle-class 
education.     (See  Evelyn's  Diary  for  Feb.  15,  168^  ;    Phillimore's  Life  of 
Sir  C.  Wren,  p.  226  and  note.) 


RELIGIOUS    AND    PHILANTHROPICAL    SOCIETIES     225 

of  it  which  comes  under  the  denomination  of  charity  schools. 
The  Christian  education  of  all  classes  had  been  recognised 
as  a  duty  before  the  S.P.C.K.  called  attention  to  it.  Tillot- 
son,  for  instance,  frequently  enforces  it  in  his  sermons. 
And  charity  schools  in  which  children  were  not  only  educated 
gratis,  but  maintained  and  clothed  in  uniform,  and  put  out 
as  apprentices,  were  not  unknown  before  1698.  It  is  diffi 
cult  to  determine  the  parish  to  which  the  honour  of  having 
the  first  charity  school  belongs.  Bishop  Smalridge  main 
tains  that '  the  Blue  Coat  School  belonging  to  the  new  church 
in  Westminster  [S.  Margaret's],  erected  in  1688,  being  the 
first  of  its  kind,  may  modestly  challenge  some  sort  of  pre 
cedency  by  right  of  primogeniture.'  '  Bishop  White  Kennet 
declares  *  it  is  no  small  honour  to  the  Parish  of  S.  Botolph, 
Aldgate,  that  here  was  first  laid  the  foundation  of  these 
charity  schools.' 2  The  school  at  S.  Martin's  in  the  Fields, 
founded  by  the  joint  exertions  of  Tenison  (then  rector  of 
the  parish)  and  Patrick  (then  at  S.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden), 
because  the  Romanists  had  founded  a  free  school  in  the 
precincts  of  the  Savoy,  also  puts  in  a  claim  to  the  honour.3 
And,  passing  from  London  to  the  country,  we  find  Bishop 
Ken  setting  up  many  schools  in  all  the  great  towns  of  his 
diocese  for  poor  children,4  which  must,  of  course,  have  been 
before  the  Revolution.  Without  settling  the  question  of 
precedency,  it  is  clear  that  several  charity  schools  were  set 
up  5  before  the  S.P.C.K.  was  even  thought  of.  But  the 
whole  credit  of  turning  an  exceptional  into  a  very  common 

1  The  Royal  Benefactress  ;  sermon  preached  at  S.  Sepulchre's  on  the 
Thursday  in  Whitsun-week,  at  the  Anniversary  Meeting  of  the  promoters  of 
Charity  Schools. 

2  The  Christian  Scholar. 

3  See  Narcissus  Luttrell's  Brief  History  of  State  Affairs  from  September, 
1678,  to  April,  1714,  i.  437.     Also  Bishop  Patrick's  Autobiography,  p.  128, 
and  Secretan's  Life  of  Nelson.    It  appears  that  the  schools  in  S.  Martin's  and 
at  S.  James',  Westminster,  were  opened  on  the  same  day  (April  23,  1688). 

4  Hawkins'  Life,  prefixed  to  Ken's  Prose  Works. 

5  See  Survey  of  the  Cities  of  London  and  Westminster,  by  E.  Seymour, 
Book  I.,  chap.  xiii.  (published  1734). 

Q 


226          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

case  belongs  to  the  Society.  The  members  at  once  began  to 
set  themselves  to  this  branch  of  their  work  with  wonderful 
energy  and  success.  In  1704  the  happy  thought  occurred  of 
assembling  all  the  children  of  the  charity  schools  in  and 
about  London  for  an  anniversary  service,  on  the  Thursday 
in  Whitsun-week.  This  service  was  at  first  held  at  S.  Sepul 
chre's,  till  the  church  became  too  small  to  hold  them  all. 
The  procession  of  the  children  in  their  uniforms,  and  the 
active  part  they  took  in  the  service,  were  new  sights  and 
proved  very  attractive.  But  here  again  there  had  been 
previously  isolated  instances  of  such  services,  for  Kennet  in 
1701  writes  of  the  S.  Botolph  schools,  '  These  pretty 
children  in  walking  by  pairs  and  singing  by  consort,  do 
naturally  strike  upon  the  eyes,  and  win  upon  the  hearts  of 
good-natured  Christians.' 1  The  anniversary  preachers 
frequently  allude  to  '  this  pleasing  sight  of  this  beautiful 
assembly,'  'the  comely  order  of  this  procession,'  and  so 
forth ; 2  and  readers  of  the  '  Spectator  '  will  remember  the 
well-known  passage  in  which  Steele  speaks  of  '  the  gentle 
man  in  the  pulpit  pleading  movingly  in  behalf  of  the  poor 
children,  and  they  for  themselves  much  more  movingly  by 
singing  a  hymn.' 3  Steele  thinks  that  the  scheme  was  not 
so  well  taken  up  as  it  deserved  to  be ; 4  but  others  thought 
differently.  Atterbury,  e.g.,  speaks  of  it  as  '  an  admirable 
design  which  had  met  with  deserved  success.'  Bishop  Bull 
told  the  clergy  of  S.  David's  '  that  the  plan  had  been  blest 
with  great  success  in  many  parts  of  the  kingdom,  especially 
London ;  ' 5  and  the  general  tone  of  the  anniversary 
preachers  is  that  of  thankfulness,  not  despondency.  And 
surely  with  reason,  if  statistics  may  be  trusted.  In  1704 
there  were  fifty-four  schools  in  and  about  London,  and  2,131 

1  The  Christian  Scholar. 

2  See  a  collection  of  Anniversary  Sermons  of  Charity  Schools  in  the 
British  Museum. 

3  No.  430.     There  are  three  papers  (294,  380,  430)  advocating  the  cause 
of  charity  schools,  all  by  Steele. 

4  Spectator,  No.  294.  b  Nelson's  Life,  p.  284. 


RELIGIOUS    AMD    PIIILANTHROPICAL    SOCIETIES     227 

children  present  at  the  first  anniversary  service.1  In  1707 
there  were  about  3,000  children  at  the  anniversary,  and  in 
1709  between  three  and  four  thousand,  while  in  1712  there 
were  117  schools  in  London  and  Westminster.  When  the 
Georgian  era  set  in,  the  progress  was  less  rapid,  owing 
partly  to  the  general  sluggishness  of  the  time,  and  partly 
to  the  fact  that  the  schools  began  to  be  suspected  of 
being  nurseries  of  Jacobitism. 

The  scheme  extended  to  all  parts  of  the  country.  At 
Cambridge  it  appears  to  have  been  particularly  successful. 
It  was  set  on  foot  in  1703,  and  was  so  warmly  taken  up  by 
the  University  authorities  that  before  the  end  of  the  year 
enough  money  had  been  gathered  to  give  a  free  education 
to  260  children,  and  the  number  quickly  rose  to  300.2 
Oxford  was  far  behind  her  sister  University.  In  1707  we 
find  E.  Nelson,  in  a  letter  to  the  Master  of  University 
College,  expressing  himself  '  much  concerned  that  charity 
schools  were  not  yet  set  up  in  the  University,'  and  a  few 
weeks  later  '  hoping  to  find  a  way  of  addressing  the  Vice- 
Chancellor  about  the  charity  schools.' 3  In  1705  Thoresby 
tells  us  '  the  new  charity  school  in  this  town  [Leeds]  was 
finished  and  furnished  with  forty  children  decently  clothed 
in  blue,  and  wholly  maintained.' 4  Bishop  Bull  strongly 
urged  his  clergy  to  '  set  up  charity  schools  in  their  several 
parishes.' 5  And,  not  to  weary  the  reader  with  further  de 
tails,  it  will  suffice  to  add  that  at  the  close  of  1712  there 
were  500  such  schools  in  different  parts  of  the  country.6 

An  interesting  feature  in  the  scheme  is  the  connection 
between  the  promoters  of  the  charity  schools  at  home  and 

1  Jubilee  Tract,  S.P.C.K. 

2  See  An  Account  of  the  Cliarity  Schools  at  Cambridge,  appended  to  a 
Sermon  preached  on  S.  Paul's  Day,  170>-,  by  W.  Winston,  Professor  of 
Mathematics. 

3  See  Letters  from  the  Bodleian,  edited  by  Bliss,  1813,  pp.  168  and  170. 
The  first  letter  from  Nelson  to  Dr.  Charlett  is  dated  Ascension  Day,  1707 ; 
the  second,  July  12,  1707. 

4  Diary,  i.  p.  463.  s  Nelson's  Life,  p.  283. 
6  See  Secretan's  Life  of  R.  Nelson. 

Q  2 


228          iJFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

men  of  kindred  spirit  abroad.  At  first  England  was  the 
receiver.  Professor  Francke  sent  over  two  Germans  from 
Halle  }  to  help  in  establishing  catechetical  schools  in  Eng 
land  ;  these  two  men  attended,  by  special  request,  one  of 
the  earlier  meetings  of  the  S.P.C.K.,  and  the  result  was 
that  several  pious  foreigners  became  masters  of  our  first 
charity  schools.'2  Presently,  however,  England  became 
the  giver.  English  charity  schools  won  such  a  reputation 
that  an  account  of  them  was  translated  into  German,  and 
schools  were  founded,  to  some  extent  on  their  model,  in 
Hesse,  Sweden,  Denmark,  Kussia,  and  Switzerland.3 

The  Corporation  of  the  Sons  of  the  Clergy  is  a  Society 
which  may  be  fairly  said  to  have  been  founded  during  our 
period,  for  though  the  institution  dates  back  as  early  as  1655, 
it  was  not  incorporated  by  charter  until  1678.  It  received 
its  name  because  sons  of  clergymen  were  its  earliest  pro 
moters,  and  its  object  was,  and  is,  to  relieve  the  necessities 
of  clergymen  and  their  families,  especially  their  widows 
and  orphan  children.  The  well-known  '  Festival,'  still  held 
annually,  dates  from  the  time  of  the  Eebellion,  and  the 
royal  charter  was  granted  twenty-three  years  later,  in  con 
sideration  of  the  great  sufferings  of  many  of  the  clergy  for 
their  loyalty  and  adherence  to  the  Church.  Nelson  recom 
mended  it  among  his  '  Ways  and  Methods  of  Doing  Good,' 
and  Atterbury  preached  on  its  behalf  one  of  his  most 
eloquent  sermons,  from  which  it  would  appear  that  the 
congregation  was  then  exclusively  composed  of  sons  of  the 
clergy.4 

Queen  Anne's  Bounty.  On  February  6,  170-J,  Queen 
Anne  signalised  her  birthday  by  announcing  to  the  House 
of  Commons  that  she  had  been  pleased  to  remit  the  arrears 

1  See  Pietas  Hallensis. 

"  Anderson's  History  of  the  Colonial  Church,  iii.  p.  565. 

3  See  Perry's  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  iii.  p.  135. 

4  Sermon  before  the  Sons  of  the  Clergy  at  their  Anniversary  Meeting  at 
S.  Paul's,  Dec.  6,  1709.     Several  paragraphs  begin,  « Ye  are  the  sons  of  the 
clergy,'  &c. 


RELIGIOUS    AND    PHILANTHROPICAL    SOCIETIES      229 

of  Tenths  to  the  poor  clergy,  and  that  she  would  henceforth 
make  a  grant  of  the  whole  of  her  revenue  from  First  Fruits 
and  Tenths  to  the  augmentation  of  poor  livings.     The  gift 
was  a  very  handsome  one,  amounting  to  sixteen  or  seventeen 
thousand  a  year,   and  the   benevolence   of  the   bountiful 
queen  is  none  the  less  because  it  would  be  more  correct  to 
call  it  'Queen  Anne's  justice,'  than  '  Queen  Anne's  bounty.' 
But  it  was  unquestionably  an  act  of  justice,  for  the  appro 
priation  of  the  money  by  the  crown  was,  in  plain  words, 
downright   robbery.      In   the   days   of   the   crusades,    the 
Popes  exacted  the  first-fruits  of  every  living  (that  is,  the 
whole  of  the  first  year's  income),  and  the  tenth  of  every 
succeeding  year,  towards  the  expenses  of  those  costly  ex 
peditions.     When  the  crusades  came  to  an  end,  the  tax  did 
not  come  to  an  end  with  them,  it  being  still  found  useful 
for  the  papal  exchequer.     When  Henry  VIII.  threw  off  the 
papal  yoke,  he  calmly  appropriated  this  source  of  revenue 
to  the  use  of  the  crown  ;  Queen  Mary  restored  it  to  the 
Church,  but  it  was  resumed  by  Queen  Elizabeth  in  the  very 
first  year  ^of  her  reign,  and  to  the  crown  it  went  ever  after. 
The  fact  that  it  was  used  as  a  convenient  fund  out  of  which 
'  to  gratifie  servants  and.  friends '  by  no   means   mended 
matters,  especially  if,  as  Burnet  intimates,  these  servants 
and  friends  were  sometimes  of  a  very  questionable  character. 
Bobbing  Peter  to  pay  Paul  is   bad   enough,  but   robbing 
Peter  to  pay  people  who  were  the  very  reverse  of  Paul  is 
worse.     Burnet  may  be  pardoned  a  little  boastfumess  in 
his  account  of  the  matter,  if  he  really  had  the  large  share 
to  which  he  lays  claim  in  bringing  about  the  gracious  and 
graceful  act.1      At  any  rate,   the  royal   sacrifice  was   not 
made  in  vain,  if  the  gratitude  of  the  people  counts    for 
anything.     White  Kennet  declared  that  it  '  redeemed  our 

1  Mr.  Palin  (History  of  the  Church  of  England,  chap.  xi.  p.  260),  to  whom 
the  very  name  of  Burnet  is  like  a  red  rag  to  a  bull,  will  not  admit  Burnet's 
exclusive  claim ;  and  it  certainly  would  be  odd  if  Archbishop  Sharp,  at  any 
rate,  the  queen's  unfailing  counsellor,  had  not  some  hand  in  the  matter. 


230          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

happy  Reformation  from  the  only  reproach  that  had  been 
cast  upon  it,' — and  much  more  to  the  same  effect.1  Atter- 
bury,  '  that  it  was  an  act  unequalled  by  any  prince  since 
the  Reformation,' 2 — and  this  was  the  general  tone  in  which 
it  was  spoken  of. 

The  same  spirit  of  charity  which  led  Christian  church 
men  to  found  these  various  Societies,  also  led  to  the  founda 
tion  of  hospitals  and  other  kindred  institutions.  The  two 
great  retreats  for  our  veteran  soldiers  and  sailors  date  from 
this  period,  Chelsea  Hospital  being  founded  by  Charles  II., 
carried  on  by  James  II.,  and  perfected  by  William  III. ; 
Greenwich  by  William  and  Mary  in  1694.  Trinity  College 
Hospital  near  Mile  End  was  founded  in  1695 ;  Aske's 
Hospital,  by  R.  Aske,  haberdasher,  who  died  in  1681  ; 
Mor den's  College,  Blackheath,  was  founded  by  Sir  John 
Morden  in  his  life-time,  '  for  merchants  fallen  into  decay, 
being  honest,  sober,  and  discreet  members  of  the  Church  of 
England.'  Its  '  generous  and  truly  Christian  founder  was 
present  at  its  consecration/  and  died  in  1708.  Ironmongers' 
Hall  was  founded  by  Sir  Robert  Geffryes  in  1681 ;  he  died 
in  1703 ; 3  and  Edward  Colston,  whose  memory  is  still 
deservedly,  honoured  every  year  at  his  native  Bristol,  and 
who  was  a  staunch  churchman  (as  indeed  were  all  the 
others  above  mentioned)  formed  most  of  his  charitable 
schemes  before  the  close  of  our  period. 

1  See  Case  of  Impropriations  <fc.,  p.  356. 

2  Sermon  VIII.,  on  the  Queen's  Accession,  March  170|. 

3  See  a  Survey  of  the  Cities  of  London  and  Westminster,  by  E.  Seymour, 
1734. 


231 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PREACHING    OF    THE    PERIOD. 

THE  reaction  against  Puritanism  which  marked  the  Eesto- 
ration  era  did  not  extend  to  one  religious  exercise.  The 
people  still  loved  to  hear  sermons.  The  mania  for  sermons 
is  one  of  the  commonest  complaints  of  Church  writers  during 
the  first  twenty  years  of  our  period.  The  sermon  'jostled 
out  catechising ; '  people  '  began  to  learn  at  the  wrong  end, 
and  ran  to  the  Lecture  before  they  had  been  at  the 
Catechism ;  '  and  '  so  they  have  been  very  opinionative,  ac 
cording  to  the  impression  which  the  affectionate  noise  of  the 
last  sermon  has  made  upon  their  minds. ' l  '  That  erroneous 
and  superstitious  conceit  of  sermons  which  obtains  so  much 
among  the  vulgar  has  almost  cast  all  other  religion  out  of 
doors.'  '2  '  This  last  age  has  brought  in  such  a  partiality  for 
preaching,  that  prayer  seems  comparatively  (like  Sarah  to 
Hagar)  despicable  in  their  eyes  ;  so  that  if  they  can  but 
come  time  enough  for  sermon  they  think  they  have  dis 
charged  the  weightier  part  of  the  law  and  of  their  own 
duty.' 3  Without  a  sermon  '  the  worship  of  God  is  counted 
lame.' 4  '  Preaching  is  now  thought  to  be  the  principal 
part  of  a  clergyman's  duty ;  nay,  so  infatuated  are  the 
people  of  this  nation  with  reference  to  this  ordinance,  that 

1  Lancelot  Addison's  Primitive  Institution  d~c.,  p.  152  (published  1674). 

2  Ealph  Bathurst  to  Seth  Ward,  soon  after  the  Kestoration.     (See  Life 
and  Literary  Remains  of  Ralpli  BatJiurst,  p.  56.) 

3  The  Ladies'  Calling,  p.  269  (published  about  1665). 

4  A  True  Notion  of  the  Worship  of  God,  or  a  Vindication  of  the  Service 
of  the  Church  of  England  (published  1673). 


232  LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

they  seem  to  imagine  that  the  main,  if  not  the  whole  of  a 
parish  minister's  business  is  to  preach,  and  that  the  people 
have  little  else  to  do  besides  to  sit  in  great  ease  and  state, 
and  to  hear  and  judge  how  well  the  parson  preaches.' ' 
Even  so  late  as  1681,  Dean  Sherlock  declares  that  '  a  great 
many,  who  have  little  other  religion,  are  forward  enough 
to  hear  sermons  ; '  and  complains  that  they  *  come  to  church 
when  the  service  is  half  over,  and  think  there  is  no  great 
hurt  in  it  neither,  if  they  do  not  lose  the  sermon.'  2 

When  we  read  of  '  the  lack  of  sermons,'  it  is  fair  to  re 
member  that  this  crusade  against  the  excessive  craving  for 
them  was  going  on.  Sir  T.  Browne,  for  instance,  records  in 
1662  that  '  he  had  the  luck  to  meet  with  a  sermon  at  Buxton, 
which  he  could  not  have  done  half  a  year  earlier.' 3  Howe 
speaks  in  1671  of  'finding  there  was  no  sermon  in  the  parish 
church  at  Holyhead,'  and  being  '  allowed  to  occupy  the  pulpit 
morning  and  afternoon,  to  the  great  delight  of  a  crowded 
congregation.' 4  Thoresby  tells  us  that  Dolben  was  '  much 
honoured  as  a  preaching  bishop,' 5  as  if  such  a  being  were 
rare  ;  and  as  late  as  1689  Patrick  found  there  was  *  but  one 
sermon  in  the  afternoon  in  all  the  churches  in  Cambridge.' fi 
But  we  must  not  too  hastily  infer  that  this  lack  of  sermons 
was  due  simply  to  laziness  or  incompetence ;  it  is  quite  as 
likely  that  it  may  have  sprung  from  an  unwillingness  to 
pander  to  a  morbid  taste.  It  is  clear  that  the  many 
remonstrances  against  the  excessive  craving  for  sermons 
were  not  without  effect.  Glanvill  of  Bath  wrote  a  '  Defence 
of  Sermons,'  in  which  he  complains  that  people  had  run 
into  the  opposite  extreme  to  that  of  the  puritanical  sermon - 
lovers  ;  and  one  of  the  indictments  of  White  Kennet  (1710) 

1  A  contemporary  of  Isaac  Milles  (who  was  born  in  1638),  quoted  in 
Life  of  I.  Milles,  p.  24. 

'*  Practical  Discourse  of  Religious  Assemblies,  pp.  6G  and  186.  (See  also 
South's  Sermons,  vol.  iii.  p.  522.) 

3  Tour  in  Derbyshire  (Sir  T.  Browne's  Works,  i.  p.  30). 

4  Life  and  Character  of  John  Howe,  by  Henry  Eogers,  p.  172. 

5  Diary,  i.  p.  172.  6  Autobiography,  p.  164. 


PREACHING    OF    THE    PERIOD  233 

against  the  High  Church  movement  is,  that  '  people  had 
begun  to  think  that  Common  Prayer  without  sermon  (at 
least  in  the  afternoon)  was  the  best  way  of  serving  God.'  ! 

The  love  of  sermons,  however,  survived  the  Restoration 
for  many  years.  And  the  sermons  that  people  loved  were 
both  long  and  abstruse.  A  sermon  then  icas  a  sermon,  not 
like  the  brisk  little  sermonette  of  our  degenerate  days,  but 
a  solid  affair,  of  at  least  an  hour's  duration,  and  plentifully 
interspersed  with  Greek  and  Latin,  and  even  Hebrew  quota 
tions.  These  scraps  of  the  learned  languages  were  valued, 
not  simply  on  the  '  omne  ignotum  pro  magnifico'  principle, 
but  as  marks  to  distinguish  the  scholarly  and  authorised 
divine  from  the  illiterate  and  amateur  preacher.  Whether 
the  latter  had  ever  been  really  popular  seems  very  doubtful. 
Of  course  no  open  objection  could  be  made  against  the 
military  preacher  who  had  a  remarkably  effectual  way  of 
enforcing  attention,  when  he  stood  with  his  little  pocket 
Bible  in  one  hand  and  his  sword  in  the  other.  But  there  is 
evidence  enough  to  shew  that,  when  the  people  could  have 
their  way,  they  preferred  a  preacher  who  was  learned  and 
who  would  display  his  learning.  When  poor  Pocock,  one 
of  the  first  scholars  in  Europe,  strove  to  adapt  himself  to 
the  capacities  of  his  rustic  congregation  at  Childrey  during 
the  Rebellion,  he  only  won  contempt  for  his  pains.  '  Our 
parson,'  they  said  to  one  of  the  vicar's  Oxford  friends,  'is 
one  Mr.  Pocock,  a  plain,  honest  man,  but,  master,  he  is  no 
Latiner.' 2  No  exception  seems  to  have  been  taken  against 
the  erudite  discourses  which  Jeremy  Taylor  delivered  to 
the  villagers  at  Golden  Grove  during  the  same  period. 
And  when  the  Church  was  restored  with  the  Monarchy, 
the  people  looked  upon  it  as  their  positive  right  to  be 
regaled,  if  not  edified,  with  sermons  which  had  a  good 
sprinkling  of  foreign  languages  in  them.  '  If,'  complains 
Eachard  in  1670,  'the  minister's  words  be  such  as  the 

1  See  Life  of  Bishop  White  Kennet,  p.  127. 

2  Life  of  Dr.  Edward  Pocock  (T wells),  p.  95. 


234          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

constable  uses,  liis  matter  plain  and  practical,  such  as 
comes  to  the  common  market,  he  may  pass  possibly  for  an 
honest,  well-meaning  man,  but  by  no  means  for  any  scholar, 
whereas  if  he  soars  aloft  in  unintelligible  huffs,  preaches 
points  deep  and  mystical,  and  delivers  them  as  dark  and 
fantastical ;  this  is  the  way,  say  they,  of  being  accounted  a 
most  able  and  learned  instructor.  Others  there  be,  whose 
parts  stand  not  so  much  towards  tall  words  and  lofty 
notions,  but  consist  in  scattering  up  and  down  and  be 
sprinkling  all  their  sermons  with  Greek  and  Latin ;  neither 
will  they  rest  here,  but  have  at  the  Hebrew  also  to  a 
company  of  farmers  and  shepherds.' l  And  his  opponents 
justify  instead  of  denying  the  facts.  Barnabas  Oley,  who 
held  a  country  living  where  he  constantly  preached  and  was 
most  popular,  doubts  '  whether  we  do  ill,  although  it  be  in 
our  country  churches,  to  sprinkle  a  little  Latin  and  Greek 
sometimes  about  our  sermons.' 2  Another  answer  says  '  it 
may  be  convenient  for  the  minister  to  quote  out  of  the 
learned  Greek  or  Latin,  though  nobody  understands  it,  to 
distinguish  himself  from  such  who  preach  in  English  alto 
gether  at  Conventicles.' 3  So  late  as  1711,  Addison  speaks 
of  '  the  natural  love  of  Latin  which  is  so  prevalent  among 
our  common  people,'  and  tells  the  amusing  story  of  the  two 
rival  preachers  in  a  country  town,  '  one  of  whom  being 
well-versed  in  the  Fathers,  used  to  quote  every  now  and 
then  a  Latin  sentence  to  his  illiterate  hearers,  who  found 
themselves  so  edified  by  it,  that  they  flocked  in  greater 
numbers  to  this  learned  man  than  to  his  rival.  The  other, 
finding  his  congregation  mouldering  every  Sunday,  and  hear 
ing  at  length  what  was  the  occasion  of  it,  resolved  to  give  his 
parish  a  little  Latin  in  his  turn,  but  being  unacquainted  with 
any  of  the  Fathers,  he  digested  into  his  sermons  the  whole 
book  of  "  Quae  Genus  "  and  "  As  in  Pra3senti ;  "  and  the  result 

1  Contempt  of  the  Clergy,  p.  37. 

2  Answer  to  Eachard's  Contempt  of  the  Clergy  (published  1671),  p.  60. 

3  Vindication  of  the  Clergy,  in  answer  to  Eachard. 


PREACHING    OF    THE    PERIOD  235 

was  that  in  a  very  little  time  this  thickened  his  audience, 
filled  his  church,  and  routed  his  antagonist.' l  But  Addison 
was  describing  a  thing  of  the  past ;  Swift,  writing  about 
the  same  time,  says  correctly,  that  'he  had  outlived  it.' 
In  fact  so  marked  a  change  took  place  in  the  character  of 
sermons  in  this  and  other  respects  during  our  period,  that 
they  really  might  be  divided  into  two  heads,  '  the  old  style  ' 
and  '  the  new  style.'  This  will  appear  when  we  enter  into 
details. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  very  time  when  church 
writers  were  inveighing  against  the  excessive  love  of  sermons 
was  the  time  when  the  reputation  of  church  preachers 
was  highest.  Never  has  the  Anglican  pulpit  been  more 
nobly  filled  than  it  was  when  Jeremy  Taylor,  Isaac 
Barrow,  Robert  South,  Thomas  Ken,  and  other  modern 
Chrysostoms  of  the  same  date  occupied  it.  Let  us  begin 
with  the  first  mentioned. 

Jeremy  Taylor,  strictly  speaking,  hardly  comes  within 
the  category  of  English  preachers  during  the  Restoration 
period  :  for  his  sermons  in  England  and  Wales  were  preached 
before  that  event.  The  return  of  his  sovereign  from  exile 
only  led  to  his  own  splendid  exile.  But  the  Englishman 
in  Ireland  was  an  Englishman  still ;  and  we  cannot  afford 
to  give  up  to  our  sister  Church  one  of  the  greatest  of  all 
our  English  preachers.  May  we  not  say,  the  greatest? 
Where  can  wre  find  an  equal  combination  of  copiousness  of 
matter,  tenderness  of  piety,  richness  of  illustration,  majestic 
dignity  and  sweet  melody  of  language  ?  It  has  been 
objected  that  he  is  too  gorgeous  in  his  language,  too 
abundant  in  illustration,  above  all,  too  profuse  in  his 
quotations  from  the  learned  languages.  That  is  a  matter 
of  taste;  but  it  should  be  noted  that  though  Taylor's 
language  is  gorgeous,  it  is  never  tawdry  or  bombastic, — 
though  his  illustrations  are  numerous  and  varied,  being 
drawn  from  all  sorts  of  sources,  from  classical  history  and 

1  Spectator,  No.  221. 


236          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

mythology  almost  as  often  as  from  the  Fathers  and  the 
early  history  of  Christianity, — they  are  never  inapposite  ; 
though  his  quotations  abound,  they  always  seem  to  flow  natu 
rally  from  his  almost  inexhaustible  fountain  of  knowledge, 
and  are  never  dragged  in  to  parade  his  erudition.  He  very 
often  translates  them,  and,  when  he  does  not,  they  may 
always  be  passed  over  by  the  unlearned  reader  without 
losing  the  thread  of  the  discourse. 

The  subjects  of  his  sermons  are  almost  always  the  plain 
practical  duties  of  daily  life.  '  If  any  man  will  do  His  will, 
he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be  of  God,' — this, 
the  text  of  one  of  his  greatest  sermons,  really  furnishes  the 
key-note  to  his  teaching ;  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  select 
a  better  specimen  of  his  style  and  matter  and  general 
tone  of  mind  (though  not  of  his  richness  of  illustration 
and  quotation),  than  the  following  passage  from  that 
sermon,  which  was  preached  before  the  University  of 
Dublin  :  '  I  am  in  a  school  of  Prophets  and  Prophets' 
sons,  who  all  ask  Pilate's  question,  What  is  Truth  ?  You 
look  for  it  in  your  books,  and  you  tug  hard  for  it  in  your 
Disputations,  and  you  derive  it  from  the  Cisterns  of  the 
Fathers,  and  you  enquire  after  the  old  wayes  and  sometimes 
are  taken  with  new  appearances,  and  you  rejoyce  in  false 
lights,  or  are  delighted  with  little  umbrages,  and  peeps  of 
Day.  But  where  is  there  a  man,  or  a  Society  of  men,  that  can 
be  at  rest  in  his  enquiry,  and  is  sure  he  understands  all  the 
truths  of  God  ?  Where  is  there  a  man  but  the  more  he 
studies  and  enquires,  still  he  discovers  nothing  so  clearly 
as  his  own  Ignorance  ?  This  is  a  demonstration  that  we 
are  not  in  the  right  way,  that  we  do  not  enquire  wisely, 
that  our  Method  is  not  artificial!.  If  men  did  fall  upon  the 
right  way,  it  were  impossible  so  many  learned  men  should 
be  engaged  in  contrary  parties  and  opinions.  We  have 
examined  all  wayes  but  one.  All  but  God's  way.  Let  us, 
(having  missed  in  all  the  other)  try  this  :  let  us  go  to  God 
for  Truth  ;  for  Truth  comes  from  God  only,  and  his  wayes 


PREACHING    OF    THE    PERIOD.  237 

are  plain,  and  his  sayings  are  true,  and  his  promises  Yea 
and  Amen ;  and  if  we  miss  the  Truth,  it  is  because  we  will 
not  find  it :  for  certain  it  is,  that  all  that  Truth  which 
God  hath  made  necessarie,  he  hath  also  made  legible  and 
plain,  and,  if  we  will  open  our  eyes,  we  shall  see  the  Sun, 
and  if  we  will  walk  in  the  Light,  we  shall  rejoyce  in  the 
light ;  only  let  us  withdraw  the  curtains,  let  us  remove  the 
impediments  and  the  sin  that  doth  so  easily  beset  us  ;  that's 
God's  way.  Every  man  must  in  his  station  do  that  por 
tion  of  duty  which  God  requires  of  him,  and  then  he  shall  be 
taught  of  God  all  that  is  fit  for  him  to  learn  ;  there  is  no 
other  way  for  him  but  this. 

Isaac  Barrow  ranks  next  to  Jeremy  Taylor  among  the 
great  preachers  of  the  Caroline  period, — in  some  respects, 
perhaps,  even  above  him.  '  Barrow,'  writes  Hallam, 
'  was  not  so  extensively  learned  as  Taylor,  who  had  read 
rather  too  much,  but  was  inferior  perhaps,  even  in  that 
respect,  to  hardly  anyone  else,  and  was  above  him  in  close 
ness  and  strength  of  reasoning.'  l  And  again,  '  Barrow's 
sermons  display  a  strength  of  mind,  a  comprehensiveness 
and  fertility  which  has  rarely  been  equalled.' 2  His  mathe 
matical  training,  no  doubt,  gave  an  argumentative  turn  to 
Barrow's  sermons,  which  make  them  very  different  from 
Taylor's,  but  they  are  wanting  in  that  exquisite  tenderness, 
and  that  almost  musical  rhythm  of  language  which  render 
Taylor's  so  fascinating.  Like  Taylor,  he  dwells  chiefly  on 
the  plain,  practical  duties  of  life,  and  avoids  deep  questions 
of  controversy,  sharing  the  reaction  from  the  controversial 
spirit  of  Puritanism.  Those  who  blame  Barrow  for  being 
too  cold  and  ethical  a  preacher  should  make  allowance  for 
this  reaction.  Le  Clerc  calls  his  sermons  rather  treatises 
and  disputations  than  harangues  ;  and  perhaps  there  is 
some  truth  in  the  remark.  But  in  their  way  they  are 
wonderful  productions.  It  is  said  that  he  would  write  and 
re- write  them  three  or  four  times :  and  perhaps  what  they 

1  Literature  of  Europe,  iii.  2G9.  y  Id.  p.  295. 


238          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

gain  in  carefulness  and  accuracy,  they  may  lose  in  fire 
and  energy  by  the  process.  Even  in  those  days  of  long 
sermons,  they  sometimes  ^provoked  rebellion  by  their  inordi 
nate  length ;  and  a  prejudice  against  the  uncouth  and 
slovenly  appearance  of  the  preacher  had  to  be  overcome 
before  they  could  be  appreciated  by  the  hearer.1  The 
reader  of  them  should  be  warned  that  in  the  popular  edition, ' 
the  editor,  Tillotson,  has  altered,  modernised,2  and  sub 
divided  to  such  an  extent  that  we  do  not  get  Barrow  as  he 
was  in  the  pulpit.  This,  however,  has  been  rectified  in 
Mr.  Napier's  excellent  edition.3  It  is  impossible  to  give  a 
fair  specimen  of  Barrow,  for  his  strength  lies  in  his  con 
secutive  train  of  powerful  reasoning,  to  which  no  detached 
passage  can  possibly  do  justice.  It  would  necessarily  be 
but  a  brick  from  Babylon. 

Widely  different  from  either  of  the  above  is  the  third 
great  preacher  of  the  Restoration  period,  Robert  South. 
He  was  like  them  both  in  this  respect;  that  he  sought 
to  turn  men's  attention  from  the  discussion  of  profound 
questions  and  the  analysis  of  their  own  experiences  to  the 
plain,  practical  duties  of  life.  But  here  the  resemblance 
ends.  He  purposely  avoided  the  ornate  style  of  Taylor. 
In  fact  it  is  probable  that  he  actually~alfuded  to  Taylor  in 
this  passage:  '"I  speak  the  words  of  soberness,"  said 
S.  Paul ;  and,  "  I  preach  the  Gospel,  not  with  the  enticing 

1  It  is  needless  to  quote  the  story  of  the  vergers  at  Westminster  Abbey 
causing  the  organs  to  blow  him  down,  because  he  preached  so  long  that  they 
would  have  no  time  to  shew  the  chapels  ;  of  the  stampede  at  S.  Lawrence 
Jewry,  when  he  appeared  in  his  untidiness  in  the  pulpit ;  of  his  Spital  sermon 
which  lasted  three  and  a  half  hours, — especially  as  some  of  these  stories 
are  not  quite  accurate. 

'*•  E.g.,  '  avoce  '  is  changed  into  '  divert,'  '  meliorate  '  into  '  improve,' 
'  oscitant '  into  '  heedless,'  '  extund  '  into  '  invent.' 

3  Published  in  1859  by  the  Cambridge  University  Press,  with  an  admirable 
notice  of  Barrow's  life  and  academical  times,  by  Dr.  Whewell.  This  was 
the  first  appearance  of  Barrow  as  he  was;  his  MSS.  were  found  at  Trinity 
College,  and  were  most  competently  edited  by  Eev.  A.  Napier.  May  I  venture 
to  refer  the  reader  to  my  article  on  Barrow  in  The  Dictionary  of  National 
Biography  for  further  information  ? 


PREACHING    OF    THE    PERIOD  239 

words  of  man's  wisdom."  Nothing  here  of  "  the  finger  of  the 
North  Star;  "  nothing  of  "nature's  becoming  unnatural;  " 
no  starched  similitudes  introduced  with  a  "  Thus  have  I 
seen  a  cloud  rolling  in  its  airy  mansion,"  and  the  like. 
The  Apostles,  poor  mortals  !  were  content  to  take  lower 
steps,  and  to  tell  the  world  in  plain  terms  that  he  who 
-believed  should  be  saved,  and  he  who  believed  not,  should 
be  damned.'  And  so  far  from  avoiding  controversy,  he 
sniffed  the  battle  from  afar,  and,  let  his  text  or  subject  be 
what  it  might,  hardly  ever  preached  a  sermon  without 
dealing  some  shrewd  blows  to  his  adversaries  on  the  right 
hand  and  on  the  left.  He  hits  hard,  but  he  hits  fair,  and 
straight  from  the  shoulder ;  and,  if  some  of  his  utterances 
startle  us,  we  must  remember  that  our  forefathers  were  not 
so  mealy-mouthed  as  we  are,  and  that  congregations  were 
used  to  hear  a  spade  called  a  spade,  even  in  the  pulpit- 
Let  us  take  as  a  specimen  his  sermon  on  *  The  Scribe 
Instructed  unto  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,'  which  naturally 
calls  forth  his  racy  wit  against  the  illiterate  preacher?. 
The  gospel  scribe  '  was  not  to  be  inspired,  or  blown  into  the 
ministry,  but  to  come  to  it  by  mature  study  and  labour.'  '  He 
was  to  fetch  his  preparations  from  Industry,  not  Infusion.' 
'  All  were  took  up  and  busied,  some  in  pulpits,  and  some  in 
tubs,  in  the  great  work  of  preaching.'  '  Whosoever  pretends 
to  be  a  preacher,  must  know  that  his  business  is  to  persuade, 
and  that  without  the  helps  of  human  Learning,  this  can 
hardly  be  done  to  any  Purpose.  So  that,  if  he  finds  him 
self  wholly  destitute  of  these,  and  has  nothing  else  to  trust 
to,  but  some  groundless,  windy,  and  phantastick  notions 
about  the  Spirit,  he  would  do  well  to  look  back,  and  taking 
his  Hand  off  from  this  Plough;  to  put  it  to  another,  much 
fitter  for  him.'  '  This  was  in  1660;  and  thirty  years  later 
he  returns  to  the  charge  :  '  Amongst  those  of  the  late 
Reforming  Age,  all  learning  was  utterly  cryed  down,  so  that 
with  them  the  best  Preachers  were  such  as  could  not  read, 

1  Sermons,  vol.  iv.    Sermon  I. 


240          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

and  the  ablest  Divines  such  as  could  hardly  spell  the  letter. 
None  were  thought  fit  for  the  Ministry  but  Tradesmen  and 
Mechanicks,  because  none  else  were  allowed  to  have  the 
Spirit.  Those  only  were  accounted  like  St.  Paul,  who  could 
work  with  their  Hands,  and  in  a  Literal  Sense  drive  the  Nail 
liome,  and  be  able  to  make  a  Pulpit  before  they  Preach'd  in 
it  ...  Latin  was  with  them  a  mortal  Crime,  and  Greek 
instead  of  being  owned  for  the  Language  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
(as  in  the  New  Testament  it  is)  was  look'd  upon  as  the  Sin 
against  it,  so  that,  in  a  word,  they  had  all  the  Confusions 
of  Babel  amongst  them,  without  the  Diversity  of  Tongues.' [ 

Before  quitting  South,  it  is  only  fair  to  shew  how  hard  he 
could  hit  on  the  opposite  side.  Thus  of  pilgrimages  :  '  A 
man,  it  seems,  cannot  be  a  Penitent,  unless  he  also  turns 
Vagabond,  and  foots  it  to  Jerusalem,  or  wanders  over  this 
or  that  part  of  the  world  to  visit  the  shrine  of  such  or  such 
a  pretended  Saint ;  Thus  that  which  was  Cain's  Curse  is 
become  their  religion.  He  that  thinks  to  expiate  a  sin  by 
going  barefoot,  does  the  penance  of  a  goose/  &c.  .  .  Of  scourg- 
ings :  '  Let  them  Lash  on  never  so  fast  they  are  not  at  all  the 
nearer  to  their  journey's  end  ;  they  may  as  well  expect  to 
bring  a  cart,  as  a  soul  to  Heaven  by  such  means.' 2  He  is 
equally  severe  against  the  Freethinkers,3  against  Trimmers,4 
against  Covetous  persons ; 5  but  as  our  quotations  have 
already  run  to  a  great  length,  it  must  suffice  to  refer  the 
reader  to  the  sermons  themselves  for  proof  of  this. 

The  sermons  of  the  three  above-named  divines  rank 
among  the  standard  works  of  our  literature,  which  can  be  said 
of  very  few  sermons  of  any  era  ;  but  the  preachers  were  not  so 
much  sought  after  in  their  life-time  as  several  others.  The 
reputation  of  Ken  as  a  preacher  stood  at  least  as  high  as 
any  of  the  three.  We  hear  how  '  the  Bishop  of  Bath  and 

1  Sermon  on  1  Cor.  xii.  4,  '  Now  there  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the 
same  Spirit,'  preached  at  Westminster  Abbey,  1692. 

8  Vol.  i.    Sermon  I.,  on  Prov.  iii.  17,  '  His  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness.' 

3  See  Sermons,  vol.  ii.  pp.  -13-4  ;  i.  p.  560. 

4  Vol.  vi.  p.  05.  "  Vol.  i.  p.  461. 


PREACHING    OF    THE    PERIOD  24! 

Wells  preached  at  S.  Martin's  to  a  crowd  not  to  be  ex 
pressed,  nor  the  wonderful  eloquence  of  this  admirable 
prelate  ; ' l  how  '  the  Holy  Communion  at  Whitehall  was  in 
terrupted  by  the  rude  breaking  in  of  a  multitude  zealous  to 
hear  the  second  sermon  by  the  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells ; ' 2 
how  'Ely  Chappell  in  Holborn  was  mightily  thronged 
when  Dr.  Kenn  preacht ; ' 3  how  *  he  made  almost  all  who 
heard  him  preach  weep  ; ' 4  how  Charles  II.  (who  knew  a 
good  sermon  when  he  heard  it,  though  he  did  not  take 
much  heed  to  practise  what  he  heard)  would  say,  '  I  must 
go  and  hear  Ken  tell  me  of  my  faults  ;  '  how  the  Princess 
Anne  wrote  to  Bishop  Turner  to  keep  '  a  place  for  her  at 
his  chapel  in  Holborn,'  when  Ken  preached,  as  she  *  had  a 
great  mind  to  hear  him.'  There  are  (so  far  as  I  know), 
only  three  of  Ken's  sermons  extant ;  but  they  are  enough 
to  shew  that  his  popularity  as  a  preacher  was  well-deserved. 
They  are  very  plain,  but  very  eloquent,  and  make  us  wish 
that  we  had  more  specimens  of  the  preaching  of  this  most 
saintly  and  courageous  man. 

Another  preacher  whose  reputation  was  deservedly  high 
was  Bishop  Stillingfleet.  Pepys,  who  was  by  no  means  inclined 
to  overestimate  preachers,  speaks  of  '  walking  to  the  Eolls 
Chapel  to  hear  the  great  Stillingfleet  preach,'  and  of  'going 
to  Whitehall  to  hear  the  famous  young  Stillingfleet  who  did 
make  a  most  plain,  honest,  and  good  grave  sermon  in  the 
most  unconcerned  and  easy,  yet  substantial  manner  that  ever 
I  heard  in  my  life.'  He  also  informs  us  that  '  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  another,  believe 
he  is  the  ablest  young  man  to  preach  the  Gospel  since  the 
Apostles.' 5  His  sermons  are  but  little  known  now,  but  they 
are  well  worth  studying.  There  is  a  fire  and  energy  about 
them  which  one  would  hardly  have  expected  from  the  cool, 
lawyer-like  mind  of  the  great  prelate.  As  a  specimen  of 

1  Evelyn's  Diary,  i.  p.  638.  2  Id.  i.  p.  647. 

3  Narcissus  Luttrell's  Diary  for  March  1686-7. 

4  Samuel  Wesley's  Letter  to  a  Curate.      &  Pepys'  Diary  for  April,  1605. 

R 


242          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

his  style,  let  us  take  a  passage  from  his  singularly  powerful 
and   seasonable   sermon   preached    before   the    House    of 
Commons  at  S.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  immediately  after 
the  Great  Fire  of  London.     He  personifies  London,  and 
makes  the  city  appeal  to  his  congregation.     '  Can  you  look 
upon  my  mines  with  hearts  as  hard  and  unconcerned  as  the 
stones  which  lie  in  them  ?     If  you  have  any  kindness  for 
me  or  for  yourselves,  if  you  ever  hope  to  see  my  breaches 
repaired,  my  beauty  restored,  my  glory  advanced,  look  on 
London's  ruines  and  repent.     Thus  would  she  bid  her  in 
habitants  not  weep  for  her  miseries,  but  for  their  own  sins, 
for  if  never  any  sorrow  was  like  her  sorrow,  it  is  because 
never  any  sins  were  like  to  their  sins.' l     Or  take  again 
the  following  passage  from  his  sermon  preached  before  the 
'  merry  monarch  '  and  his  scoffing  courtiers  in  the  spring  of 
1667,  on  the  text,  '  Fools  make  a  mock  of  sin  ;  '  in  which  one 
hardly  knows  whether  to  admire  most  the  eloquence  or  the 
moral  courage  of  the  preacher.     *  Is  the  chair  of  Scorners 
at  last  proved  the  only  chair  of  infallibility  ?     Must  those 
be  the  standard  of  mankind,  who  seem  to  have  little  left  of 
humane  nature,  but  laughter  and  the  shape  of  men  ?     Do 
they  think  we  are  all  become  such  fools  to  take  scoffs  for 
arguments,    and   raillery   for  demonstrations  ?  .   .    .  Me- 
thinks,  among  persons    of   civility  and  honour,  above  all 
others,  religion  might  at  least  be  treated  with  the  reverence 
and  respect  due  to  the  concernments  of  it ;  that  it  be  not 
made  the  sport  of  entertainments,  nor  the  common  subject 
of  plays  and  comedies.     For  is  there  nothing  to  trifle  with 
but  God  and  his  service  ?    Is  wit  grown  so  schismatical  and 
sacrilegious  that  it  can  please  itself  with  nothing  but  holy 
ground  ?    Are  prophaneness  and  wit  grown  such  inseparable 
companions,  that  none  shall  be  allowed  to  pretend  to  the  one 
but  such  as  dare  be  highly  guilty  of  the  other  ?  ' 2 

1  Twelve  Sermons  by  Bishop  Stillingfleet,  published  1696.    Sermon  L, 
text,  Amos  iv.  11. 

2  Id.    Sermon  II. 


PREACHING    OF    THE    PERIOD  243 

Archbishop  Dolben  almost  rivalled  in  popularity  the  two 
last-named  preachers.  When  he  preached  at  Westminster 
Abbey  as  dean,  people  crowded  to  hear  him,  and  he  was  im 
mortalised  by  Dryden  in  his  '  Absalom  and  Achitophel,'  as  : 

Him  of  the  Western  Dome,  whose  weighty  sense 
Flow'd  in  fit  words,  and  heavenly  eloquence  ; 

and  after  he  had  attained  the  mitre,  Thoresby  tells  us  that 
he  '  was  much  honoured  as  a  preaching  bishop.' l  The  dis- 
interment  of  the  few  sermons  he  has  left  from  their  graves 
in  the  British  Museum,  thoroughly  accounts  for  their  po 
pularity.  There  is  one  that  was  preached  before  the  king, 
August  14,  1666,  '  the  day  of  Thanksgiving  for  the  late 
victory  at  sea,'  which  is  a  most  admirable  one ;  it  is  very  clear 
and  plain,  with  no  quotations,  written  in  a  pure  and  terse 
style,  without  a  word  of  flattery  to  his  royal  hearer,  and 
with  something  of  the  downright  abruptness  of  the  soldier 
about  it,  arid  gains  considerable  force  by  utilising  the 
preacher's  military  experience.  Witness  the  following  ex 
tract.  '  Courage  !  break  off  your  sins  by  repentance ;  live  a 
Christian,  devout  and  holy  life,  and  pray  earnestly  for  God's 
gracious  favour  and  succour,  so  shall  you  serve  the  king  as 
considerably  as  any  Volontier  in  the  Fleet.  Here  is  a  pro 
ject  to  raise  an  army  easily,  speedily,  without  charge  or 
trouble,  and  such  an  one  as,  could  I  see  formed,  I  should 
be  much  tempted  to  despise  all  our  enemies.2  No  age  or 
sex  but  are  fit  to  be  listed  in  it.  The  impotent  old  man  on 
his  couch,  the  lady  in  her  closet,  the  sick  and  weak  upon  their 
beds,  without  danger  or  fatigue  at  sea,  every  one  in  their  own 
station,  where  infirmity  or  tenderness  hath  ranked  them,  may 
fight,  and  certainly  be  victorious.  Whoever  can  but  mortifie 
a  lust,  forsake  a  sin,  kindle  an  ardent  love  to  God  in  his 
heart,  shed  a  tear,  send  up  a  prayer,  a  sigh,  or  a  groan  to 
Heaven,  may  thereby  without  any  other  Artillery,  reach  and 

1  Diary,  i.  p.  172  (May  1,  1684). 

2  Observe  the  seasonable  allusion  to  the  much-vexed  question  as  to  the 
maintenance  of  a  standing  army. 

R  2 


244         LIFE   IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

gall  the  enemy  at  what  distance  soever.  By  the  secret, 
invisible  influence  of  your  devotions,  you  may  strengthen 
the  hearts  and  hands  of  your  friends.  While  your  hearts 
are  right  with  God,  and  you  hold  up  pure  hands  in  Prayer, 
(like  Moses  in  the  Mount),  theirs  will  be  victorious  in 
battail.  .  .  .  Truly  you  are  too  unkind,  if,  while  your 
countrymen  fight  for  you,  you  will  not  pray  for  them. 
While  they  patiently  endure  toil,  sickness,  wounds,  nay 
lose  their  lives,  you  will  not  amend  yours,'  &c.  Dolben's 
sermons  are  so  striking  and  so  little  known  that  another 
specimen  may  not  be  superfluous.  The  following  is  from  a 
Good  Friday  sermon  at  Whitehall  1666,  from  S.  John  xix. 
19.  The  preacher's  purpose  is  '  not  to  lament  the  shame 
and  cruelties,  but  to  celebrate  the  triumphs  and  glory  of 
Christ's  Passion,  to  do  Homage  to  the  King  of  sufferers  and 
adore  the  majesty  of  our  Lord's  abasement.'  The  subject 
is  argued  out  most  admirably  at  great  length,  and  in  a  very 
racy  and  practical  fashion.  '  Do  you  own  and  accept 
Christ  for  your  King?  I  know  you  are  apt  enough  to 
admit  his  other  relations  to  you  ;  everyone  hearkens  will 
ingly  to  the  tidings  of  a  Mediator  and  Saviour.  'Tis  pleasant 
enough  to  think  of  a  Sacrifice  considerable  enough  to  atone 
for  our  sins.  Of  such  a  High  Priest  entered  within  the 
vail,  interceding  in  our  behalf  at  God's  right  hand,  who 
will  surely  be  heard  when  he  prays,  and  who  hath  already 
obtained  eternal  redemption  for  us.  Nay,  we  can  take  well 
that  he  be  a  King  too,  provided  that  his  kingdom  is  not  of 
this  world,  so  he  trouble  us  not  with  it  in  this  world,  pretend 
not  to  govern  us  till  we  come  to  Heaven.  'Tis  not  amiss 
that  he  be  powerful  enough  to  overcome  our  enemies,  &c. 
Tell  me  now,  I  pray  you,  what  temptation  had  the  Jews, 
why  they  should  not  be  as  good  Christians  as  we  upon 
their  own  grounds,  if  this  be  all  ?  What  carnality  of  theirs 
would  have  resisted  the  proposition  of  such  a  sacrifice  to 
expiate  their  sins  ?  Why  should  not  a  Pharisee  be  content 
that  he  might  have  an  Advocate  always  pleading  for  him  at 


PREACHING    OF    THE    PERIOD  245 

the  Throne  of  Grace  ?  What  could  move  the  grossest 
dreamer  in  the  Sanhedrim  to  refuse  a  reversion  of  eternal 
glory  in  Heaven,  after  the  enjoyment  of  those  present 
felicities  which  he  desired  on  earth.  There  is  something 
surely  more  than  this,  in  the  accepting  and  acknowledging 
Christ  for  our  king,  or  else  the  Jews  would  have  accepted  him 
too.  The  duty  of  a  suhject  to  a  Prince  is  expressed  in  one 
word,  Obedience  ; '  and  he  works  out  the  idea  in  every  detail. 
There  are  few  more  striking  instances  of  the  fickleness 
of  fame  than  may  be  found  in  the  fate  of  Tillotson's 
sermons.  From  1664,  when  he  was  made  preacher  at 
Lincoln's  Inn,  and  shortly  afterwards,  Camden  Lecturer  at 
S.  Lawrence  Jewry,  for  at  least  a  century  his  fame  as  a 
preacher  was  unrivalled.  He  was  '  wonderfully  admired 
and  loved  as  preacher  at  Lincoln's  Inn  ;  '  and  his  '  Tuesday 
lectures  at  S.  Lawrence  were  much  frequented  by  all  the 
divines  of  the  town,  and  a  great  many  persons  of  quality 
and  distinction.' *  The  clergy  came  to  form  their  style,  and 
in  fact  '  his  sermons  were  so  well  heard  and  liked,  and  so 
much  read,  that  all  the  nation  proposed  him  as  a  pattern, 
and  studied  to  copy  after  him.'  Indeed,  '  he  was  not  only 
the  best  preacher  of  the  age,  but  seemed  to  have  brought 
preaching  to  perfection.' 2  What  is  especially  remarkable 
is  that  the  intense  odium  which  he  incurred  by  taking  San- 
croft's  place  does  not  seem  to  have  in  the  least  diminished 
the  value  which  was  set  upon  his  sermons.  High  church 
men  as  well  as  low  swelled  the  chorus  of  praise.  Bevill 
Higgons,  whose  dislike  of  the  whole  school  to  which  Tillotson 
belonged  was  extreme,  yet  owns  that  '  by  the  study  of  the 
ancients  and  the  classic  authors,  whom  he  had  made  his 
models,  he  had  form'd  a  stile  and  acquired  a  just  way  of 
thinking,  with  a  simplicity  and  easiness  of  expression  before 
his  time  unknown  in  England.  This  justly  gave  him  the 

1  Lives  and  Characters  of  the  Protestant  Bislwps  of  the  Church  of  Eng 
land,  by  J.  Le  Neve  (published  1720),  p.  223.   Also  Birch's  Life  of  Tillotson, 
pp.  28^9. 

2  Tindal's  Continuation  of  Rapin's  History  of  England,  vol.  xiv.  p.  144, 


246          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

character  of  an  excellent  preacher.  I  wish  from  my  heart 
I  could  speak  as  well  of  him  in  respect  to  his  religion  and 
politics.' l  Atterbury,  who  was  the  very  antithesis  of 
Tillotson,  says  that  '  in  his  poor  opinion  Dr.  Tillotson  wrote 
and  reasoned  as  justly  as  any  man  of  his  time  ; ' 2  and  as 
Tillotson  wrote  nothing  but  sermons,  it  is  to  these  that  the 
remark  must  apply.  Bishop  Bull,  a  moderate  high  church 
man,  recommended  Tillotson's  sermons  *  as  well-known  and 
approved  of  all '  to  the  attention  of  the  clergy  of  S.  David's 
in  his  Charge  of  1708 ; 3  and  Bull's  biographer,  whose 
opinions  need  not  be  specified,  recommended  them  to  his 
nephew.  Samuel  Wesley  affirms  in  good  prose  that  Til 
lotson  '  brought  the  art  [of  preaching]  near  perfection  ;  ' 
and  in  bad  verse  : 

'Twas  music,  poetry  and  rapture  all, 
The  sweets  of  his  orac'lous  words  to  share  ; 
As  soft  they  fell  as  balmy  dew-drops  fall, 
As  smooth  as  undisturb'd  ethereal  air, 
One  word  you  cannot  take  away  ; 

Complete  as  Virgil's,  his  majestic  sense, 
To  twenty  ages  of  the  world  shall  stay 

The  standard  his  of  English  eloquence.4 

The  writer  of  a  contemporary  biography  is  of  opinion 
that  Tillotson  '  taught  by  his  sermons  more  ministers  to 
preach  well,  and  more  people  to  live  well,  than  any  since  the 
Apostles.' 5  The  copyright  of  the  sermons  after  Tillotson's 
death  fetched  the  (for  that  time)  enormous  sum  of  2,500/.,(i 
and  for  about  half  a  century  they  seemed  likely  to  verify 

1  Remarks  on  Burners  History  of  his  Own  Times,  vol.  ii.  p.  125  of  the 
Historical  Works  of  Bevill  Higgons,  Esq. 

Preface  to  vol.  ii.  of  Atterbury's  Sermons,  p.  xli. 

Bull's  Works  (published  1846),  vol.  ii.  p.  21. 

Quoted  in  Tyerman's  Life  and  Times  of  Samuel  Wesley,  p.  192. 

Life  of  the  Rev.  William  Burkitt,  p.  32. 

See  Tatler,  No.  101.  The  writers  (Steele  and  Addison)  describe  Tillot 
son  as  '  the  most  eminent  and  useful  author  of  the  age  we  live  in,'  and  say 
•  the  sale  of  his  immortal  writings  brought  her  '  (his  widow) '  in  a  very  con 
siderable  dowry  ;  though  it  was  impossible  for  it  to  be  equal  to  their  value.' 


PREACHING    OF    THE    PERIOD  247 

the  prophecy  of  immortality  which  the  two  great  essayists 
uttered  concerning  them  ; l  whereas  '  now7,'  as  Hallam  says, 
'  they  are  bought  almost  as  waste  paper,  and  hardly  read  at 
all.' 2  What  is  the  cause  of  this -utter  collapse?  Hallam 
seems  to  attribute  it  to  a  want  of  vigour  and  vivacity  in  his 
style ;  but  surely  that  would  have  injured  their  effect  in  the 
delivery  more  than  in  the  perusal  of  them  in  cold  blood. 
The  defect  seems  to  me  to  lie  at  least  as  much  in  the  matter 
as  in  the  style.  Let  anyone  purchase  the  two  huge  folios 
(they  can  be  bought  uncommonly  cheap)  and  carefully  read 
the  sermons,  and  he  will  probably  wonder,  not  that  the 
virtue  has  gone  out  of  them,  but  that  it  was  ever  supposed 
to  be  in  them.  Sermons,  of  all  compositions,  can  never  be 
immortal  when  the  preacher  seems  to  have  no  particular 
message  to  deliver.  And  beyond  a  general  impression  that 
it  is  more  prudent  on  the  whole  to  believe  the  Gospel,  in  a 
modified  sort  of  way,  than  not,  what  impression  does  Til- 
lotson  convey  ?  No  one  would  ever  dream  now  of  quoting 
him  as  an  authority  on  any  point  of  divinity  ;  among  other 
reasons,  because  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  ascertain  what 
his  precise  views  were.  His  popularity  appears  to  me  to  have 
arisen,  partly  from  the  fact  that  he  hit  the  popular  taste  for 
a  simpler,  a  smoother,  and  above  all,  a  shorter  style  of 
sermon  than  had  been  customary,  partly  from  the  wyell- 
earned  reputation  of  the  man  for  piety,  charity,  and  general 
amiability,  and  partly  perhaps  from  the  charm  of  his  delivery, 
about  which  he  evidently  took  great  pains,  for  he  was  in  the 
habit,  as  he  told  Dr.  Maynard,  his  predecessor  at  Lincoln's 
Inn,  of  '  writing  every  word  before  he  preached  it,  and  then 
getting  it  by  heart.' 3  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  prediction  of 
his  admiring  biographer,  that  the  sermons  would  be  '  the  best 
model  for  all  succeeding  ages '  has  proved  singularly  incorrect.4 
In  fact  the  simple  villagers  of  Keddington  who  '  did  not 

1  Tatler,  ut  supra.  2  Literature  of  Europe,  iii.  p.  297. 

3  See  Wordsworth's  Ecclesiastical  Biography,  vol.  iv.  p.  718. 
*  Birch's  Life  of  Tillotson,  p.  20. 


248          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

relish '  the  sermons  and  complained  that  they  did  not  hear 
the  Gospel,  showed  that  they  had  greater  insight  than  these 
learned  London  clergy  who  flocked  to  '  form  their  minds  ' 
on  the  model  of  the  popular  preacher. 

A  similar  fate  has  overtaken  another  admired  preacher 
in  his  day,  Tillotson's  great  friend,  Archbishop  Sharp. 
Samuel  Wesley  ranks  Sharp  as  a  popular  orator  above 
even  Tillotson  and  Stillingfleet.1  Burnet  described  him  to 
the  Prince  of  Orange  on  the  eve  of  the  Eevolution,  as  '  one 
of  the  best  preachers  in  England.' 2  His  *  incomparable 
preaching '  as  well  as  his  high  character  evidently  helped 
to  win  Ealph  Thoresby  over  to  the  Church.3  When  rector 
of  S.  Giles'  in  the  Fields,  still  more  than  when  Dean  or 
Archbishop,  he  was  generally  known  as  an  excellent  popular 
preacher.4  And  his  fame  was  not  quite  ephemeral.  The 
published  sermons  had  passed  through  nine  editions  before 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century ;  and  they  are  still 
extant  and  well  worth  reading  ;  they  are,  like  himself,  plain, 
practical,  thoroughly  real  and  earnest,  rather  than  brilliant  ; 
and  there  is  more  defmiteness  about  them  than  there  is 
about  Tillotson's  ;  but  there  is  no  particular  reason  why 
they  should  take  a  place  among  the  standard  sermons  of  our 
literature —and  they  have  not. 

The  great  preacher  in  the  later  part  of  our  period  was, 
of  course,  Dean  Atterbury.  His  sermons  have  not  fallen 
into  the  oblivion  to  which  Tillotson's,  Sharp's,  and  Stilling- 
fleet's  have  been  consigned.  They  still  occupy  a  place  in 
the  shelves  of  most  theological  libraries, — whether  they  ever 
come  down  from  those  shelves  is  another  question.  By 
the  year  1766  they  had  reached  an  eighth  edition,  a  con- 

1  See  Letter  to  a  Curate. 

2  Letter   to   the   Prince  of   Orange,  quoted  in   Diary  of  the   Times  of 
Charles  II.,  ed.  by  Blencowe.    Correspondence  of  the  Times  of  James  II.  and 
William  III.,  vol.  ii.  pp.  281-7. 

3  See  Diary,  i.  p.  313  &c. 

4  See  Life  of  Kettle  well,  p.  69,  and  Carwithen's  History  of  the  Church 
of  England,  iii.  p.  281. 


PREACHING    OF    THE    PERIOD  249 

siderable  success  when  it  is  remembered  that  with  the 
advent  of  the  Georges,  the  preacher's  theological  and  poli 
tical  views  went  completely  out  of  fashion.  But,  oddly 
enough,  some  of  the  most  fervid  panegyrics  of  Atterbury's 
sermons  come  from  people  who  differed  most  widely  from 
his  politics  and  theology.  It  was  a  dissenter  (Doddridge) 
wrho  called  him  '  the  glory  of  English  orators.'  It  is  in  a 
paper  of  which  the  editor  was  a  pronounced  Whig  that 
'  the  oratory,  the  soft  and  graceful  behaviour,  and  captivat 
ing  person '  of  the  Tory  dean  is  immortalised.1  It  is 
poor  John  Dunton, — a  very  erratic  churchman,  if  a  church 
man  at  all, — who  celebrates  Atterbury's  '  eloquence  and 
mighty  sense  of  the  worth  of  souls.' 2  It  is  Stackhouse, 
certainly  not  a  high  churchman,  who  remarks,  *  Among 
the  great  preachers  of  our  age  no  one  that  I  ever  knew  had 
happier  talents  than  Dr.  Atterbury.' 3  And  yet  Atterbury 
is  perfectly  outspoken  ;  all  his  sermons  are  those  of  a  strong 
churchman,  but  they  are  also  those  of  a  polished  man  of 
the  world,  not  of  a  mere  theologian.  They  are  not  for  one 
moment  to  be  compared  with  those  of  Taylor,  Barrow,  and 
South,  the  great  preachers  of  the  earlier  part  of  our  period, 
but  in  their  way  they  are  finished  performances. 

Another  famous  preacher,  whose  sermons  are  still  known, 
was  William  Beveridge.  '  Beveridge,'  writes  his  contem 
porary,  K.  Nelson,  '  had  a  way  of  touching  the  consciences 
of  his  hearers  that  seemed  to  revive  the  spirit  of  the 
Apostolic  age.'  And  Beveridge's  biographer  in  our  own 
day  takes  a  similar  view  of  his  sermons.  '  Their  great 
beauty,'  he  writes,  '  is  a  tender  and  pathetic  earnestness,  a 
strong  and  affectionate  appeal  to  the  heart  and  conscience  ;  ' 
and  then,  after  contrasting  him  with  Barrow,  he  adds  epi- 
grammatically,  '  it  is  not  every  reader  who  can  reason  and 
investigate  with  Barrow,  but  all  can  feel  with  Beveridge.' 4 

1  Taller,  No.  GG.  2  Life  and  Errors  of  John  Dunton,  p.  368. 

3  Life  of  Bislwp  Atterbury. 

4  Hartwell  Home's  Memoir  of  Bishop  Beveridge. 


250          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

All  this  is  perfectly  true ;  but  there  is  also  another  excel 
lence  in  the  sermons  which,  combined  with  great  simplicity 
and  earnestness,  gives  them  a  peculiar  value.  No  preacher 
sets  forth  better  in  their  full  and  due  proportion,  evangelical 
doctrine  and  apostolical  order.  '  Evangelicals  '  (in  the  tech 
nical  sense  of  the  term)  claim  Beveridge  as  their  own ; 
and  his  sermons  are  truly  evangelical,  with  much  more  of 
the  gospel  in  them  than  many  of  his  day ;  at  the  same 
time  they  have  a  most  distinctly  Church  tone,  and  in  fact 
insist  far  more  strongly  and  far  more  persuasively  than, 
say,  Atterbury's  do  upon  all  those  observances  on  which 
high  churchmen  lay  most  stress.1  He  who  would  catch 
the  spirit  of  the  English  Church  could  not  do  better  than 
read  and  digest  the  sermons  of  Bishop  Beveridge. 

The  name  of  Beveridge  naturally  suggests  that  of  Simon 
Patrick.  Dunton  says  that  he  was  called  par  excellence 
1  the  preaching  bishop,'  a  title  which,  if  it  was  really 
applied  to  him,  conveys  a  most  undeserved  reproach  upon 
his  brother  prelates.2  Burnet  especially  recommended  him 
to  the  Prince  of  Orange  as  '  a  great  preacher ; ' 3  and  when 
he  was  at  S.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden,  his  preaching  was 
almost  as  attractive  as  Beveridge's  at  S.  Peter's,  Corn- 
hill.  But  we  have  to  take  Patrick's  preaching  power 
very  much  upon  trust,  for  his  sermons  which  are  extant 
are  not  fair  specimens.  The  first  is  that  which  he  preached 
while  hardly  more  than  a  boy,  over  the  grave  of  his  guide, 
philosopher,  and  friend,  John  Smith,  the  Platonist,  and  is 
appended  to  the  magnificent  discourses  of  that  extraordinary 
young  man.  Almost  any  sermon  would  suffer  from  such  a 

1  See,  e.g.,  his  Sermons  on  the  Ministry  and  Ordinances  of  the  Church 
of  England,  in  which  he  dwells  strongly  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Apostolical 
Succession,  on  the  duty  of  fasting  in  Lent,  in  the  Ember  Weeks,  and  on 
every  Friday  throughout  the  year. 

*  Life  and  Errors  of  John  Dunton,  p.  363.  He  adds  that  '  were  all 
others  like  Patrick  in  that  respect,  the  dissenters  would  have  no  colour  to 
complain  that  "  these  bishops  sermonize  so  seldom."  '  They  had  certainly 
no  colour  to  complain  as  it  was  ;  the  bishops  preached  incessantly. 

3  Letter  to  Prince  of  Orange  &c.,  ut  supra. 


PREACHING    OF    THE    PERIOD  251 

juxtaposition  ;  much  more  one  which  bears  evident  traces 
of  the  rawness  of  youth.  Mr.  Mullinger  thinks  '  there  is  no 
more  pathetic  production  in  all  literature ; '  }  but  the  pathos 
(as  Mr.  Mullinger  himself  seems  to  intimate)  is  due  rather 
to  the  circumstances  of  its  delivery  than  to  its  own  intrinsic 
merit ;  several  of  Patrick's  sermons  only  come  down  to  us 
as  they  have  been  digested  into  devotional  treatises  ;  and 
sermons  transmuted  into  treatises  are  obviously  no  fair 
specimens  of  sermons. 

Bishop  Burnet  is  another  famous  preacher  whose  powers 
we  must  take  mainly  upon  trust.  Everyone  knows  Lord 
Macaulay's  vivid  description  of  the  preacher  being  often 
interrupted  by  the  deep  hum  of  his  audience,  and,  when 
he  had  preached  out  the  hour-glass,  of  the  congregation 
clamorously  encouraging  him  to  go  on  until  the  glass  had 
run  off  once  more.2  His  sermons  were,  as  a  rule,  preached 
without  note,  but  there  are  at  any  rate  four  sermons  still 
extant,  which  certainly  do  not  read  well.  They  are  mainly 
political,  and  the  whole  style  as  well  as  tone  is  not  elevated, 
nor  are  they  by  any  means  free  from  gross  flattery  to  his 
royal  master.3 

Judging  by  results,  Dr.  Horneck  must  have  been  one  of 
the  most  effective  preachers  of  his  day  ;  for  to  him  above  all 
others  the  remarkable  movement  resulting  in  the  Religious 
Societies  already  described  is  due.  Evelyn  heard  him,  and 
calls  him  '  a  most  pathetic  preacher.' 4  Wood  tells  us  '  he 
was  a  frequent  and  florid  preacher,  and  very  popular  in 
London  and  Westminster  ;  ' 5  Kidder  that  *  he  preached 

1  Cambridge  Characteristics  in  the  seventeenth  Century,  p.  91,  note. 

2  History  of  England,  i.  p.  413. 

3  In  a  sermon  preached  before  King  William  at  Whitehall  on  December 
2,    1697,    the   day  of  Thanksgiving   for  Peace,  he  compared   William    to 
Solomon,  and  shows  how  superior  the   former  is.     In  another  he  writes  : 
'  The  reign  of  Saul  and  the  charms  that  were  in  Jonathan  had,  no  doubt, 
given  the  family  a  great  root.     But  the  divine  design  that  was  upon  David 
had  broke  through  all  that,  and  had  turned  the  hearts  of  the  whole  nation 
as  one  man  to  him.'     Then  William  is  shown  to  be  as  David,  James  and 
his  son  as  Saul  and  Jonathan. 

4  Diary  for  March  18,  168|.  5  Athena  Oxonienses,  iv.  p.  111. 


252          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

with  great  vehemence  and  ardour,  with  mighty  force  and 
conviction.  He  spake  the  sense  of  his  soul,  and  entered 
into  the  hearts  of  his  people.  .  .  .  His  fame  grew,  and 
among  his  auditors  were  some  of  the  highest  rank,  and  a 
very  great  number  of  truly  devout  and  pious  persons.'1 
Birch  speaks  of  '  his  prodigious  popularity  on  account  of 
his  reputation  for  piety  and  his  pathetic  sermons,  his  church 
at  the  Savoy  being  crowded  by  auditors  from  the  most 
remote  parts,  which  occasioned  Dean  Freeman  to  say  that 
Dr.  Horneck's  parish  was  much  the  largest  in  town,  since  it 
reached  from  Whitehall  to  Whitechapel.' 2  The  samples  of 
his  sermons  which  remain  fully  bear  out  this  reputation. 
The  « Happy  Ascetic  '  is  a  most  powerful  set  of  sermons. 

The  name  of  Mr.  Smythies  as  a  preacher  is  naturally 
associated  with  that  of  Dr.  Horneck,  on  account  of  the 
great  effect  which  the  preaching  of  both  produced  upon 
the  young  men  of  the  metropolis.  His  sermons  give  one 
the  idea  of  a  most  impressive  preacher ;  the  way  in  which 
he  analyses  his  text,  picking  his  subject  to  the  very  bone, 
reminds  one  a  little  of  Bishop  Andrewes,  but  his  style  is 
essentially  modern.3 

Perhaps  an  adventitious  interest  is  attached  to  the 
preaching  of  Samuel  Wesley  from  the  fact  of  his  being  the 
father  of  the  man  whose  preaching  woke  up  England,  and 
the  father  was  not  unworthy  of  the  son.  Among  a  batch  of 
sermons  preached  before  the.  Eeligious  Societies,  by  far  the 
most  racy  and  energetic  is  the  one  preached  by  the  rector  of 
Ep  worth.4 

Dr.  Richard  Lucas  was  a  very  popular  preacher  in  his 
day,  and  his  sermons,  when  hunted  out  from  the  shelves 

1  Life  of  Rev.  Anthony  Horneck,  D.D.,  by  Bishop  Kidder. 

2  Life  of  Tillotson,  p.  213. 

3  See  a  Sermon  by  William  Smythies,  Curate  at   S.  Giles',  Cripplegate, 
on  Galatians  vi.  2. 

4  A  Sermon  concerning  the  Reformation   of  Manners,  preached  at  S. 
James'  Church,  Westminster,  and  afterwards  at   S.  Bride's,  to  one  of  the 
Keligious  Societies,  by  S.  Wesley,  1698. 


PREACHING    OF    THE    PERIOD  253 

on  which  they  have  accumulated  the  dust  of  many  genera 
tions,  shew  that  his  reputation  was  thoroughly  well  deserved. 
In  fact  they  are  so  good  that  a  specimen  must  be  given. 
The  following  is  from  a  sermon  on  '  I  will  not  fear  what 
man  can  do  unto  me.'  '  For  what  can  he  ?  His  tongue  can 
wound  our  reputation  or  his  arm  our  body ;  he  can  plunder 
and  rifle  us  of  our  estate  and  fortune,  he  can  deprive  us  of 
our  liberty,  and  of  life  itself.  Not  to  take  notice  that  he 
can  do  none  of  these  things  unless  God  permit,  what  doth 
all  this  amount  to  ?  "  He  can  wound  our  reputation  ;  "  i.e. 
he  can  fight  with  the  air,  for  reputation  is  but  a  popular 
breath ;  he  can  fasten  imaginary  words  upon  an  imaginary 
man,  for  reputation  is  generally  nothing  else  but  the  picture 
of  a  man  drawn  by  the  fancies  and  opinions  of  the  vulgar. 
"  He  can  rob  us  of  our  estates  ;  "  i.e.  he  can  clear  our  way  to 
Heaven  of  all  that  rubbish  which  doth  but  trash  and  clog 
us  on  our  journey.  "  He  can  deprive  us  of  our  liberty  ;  "  i.e. 
he  can  confine  us  to  the  happy  necessity  of  entertaining 
ourselves  with  wise  and  holy  thoughts  and  of  being  enter 
tained  by  Heaven.  Finally,  "  he  can  kill  the  body  ;  "  i.e.  he 
can  throw  down  these  mud  walls  which  will  be  built  up  of 
marble  ;  he  can  deliver  us  from  the  troubles  and  evils  of 
this  life  and  send  us  the  speediest  way  into  the  joys  and 
glories  of  a  better  ;  this  is  all  vain  man  can  do.'  l  All  the 
rest  are  in  the  same  quaint,  racy  style ;  both  matter  and 
language  very  plain,  but  the  subjects  all  argued  out  most 
exhaustively. 

Bishop  Hooper  of  Bath  and  Wells  is  another  preacher 
whose  sermons,  when  disinterred  from  their  graves,  give  one 
a  most  favourable  impression  ;  they  were  republished  in 
1855,  and  are,  therefore,  it  may  be  presumed,  better  known 
than  Dr.  Lucas'.  They  fill  two  large  volumes.  Many  of  them 
were  preached  before  royalty,  but  there  is  not  the  slightest 

1  See  Twenty-four  Sermons  preached  on  several  Occasions,  by  R.  Lucas, 
late  Vicar  of  S.  Stephen,  and  Prebendary  of  Westminster.  Sermon  VI., 
preach't  before  the  Queen,  being  the  Monthly  Fast,  June  14, 1693. 


254          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

taint  of  flattery  in  them.  As  might  be  expected  from  the 
friend  of  Bishop  Ken,  their  tone  is  markedly  church,  hut 
they  are  written  in  a  most  charitable  spirit.1 

The  sermons  of  Bishop  Smalridge,  the  '  Favonius  '  of  the 
'  Tatler,'  have  also  been  republished  in  our  own  day.  They 
somewhat  resemble  Hooper's,  but  are  not  of  so  distinctly  a 
church  type  nor  yet  so  evangelical ;  their  great  merit  is  the 
singularly  luminous  and  smooth  style  in  which  they  are 
written.2 

Sir  William  Dawes,  Bishop  of  Chester,  and  afterwards 
Archbishop  of  York,  had  the  reputation  of  being  the  best 
preacher  of  his  day.3  Two  large  8vo.  vols.  of  his  sermons 
are  still  extant ;  they  are  very  good,  plain  sermons,  their 
plainness  being  evidently  studied.  In  many  respects  they  re 
mind  one  greatly  of  Archbishop  Sharp's,  and  exactly  corre 
spond  to  his  biographer's  description  of  them  ;  '  plain  and 
unaffected,  adapted  to  every  common  comprehension,  and,  as 
much  as  possible,  divested  of  all  appearance  of  learning ; ' 
but  they  must  have  required  the  '  majestic  appearance  and 
melody  of  voice  '  which  the  biographer  also  notices,  to  make 
the  preacher  what  he  is  called  on  the  same  authority,  '  the 
most  compleat  Pulpit  Orator  of  his  age.' 4 

Zachary  Cradock,  Provost  of  Eton  and  Canon  Kesiden- 
tiary  of  Chichester,  '  was  admired  in  his  own  time  for  his 
uncommon  talents  of  discoursing  from  the  pulpit  with  the 
greatest  copiousness  and  vivacity,  without  notes  or  pre 
paration.' 5  It  is  therefore  scarcely  fair  to  judge  of  his 
powers  by  his  only  two  printed  sermons,  which  are  well 

1  See  The  Works  of  the  Right  Rev,  G.  Hooper,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells, 
new  edition,  Oxford,  1855. 

*  Sixty  Sermons  by  G.  Smalridge,  sometime  Bishop  of  Bristol  arid  Dean 
of  Christ  Church  (new  edition,  1852).  Also  Twelve  Sermons  by  Bishop 
Smalridge  on  different  Occasions  (published  1717). 

3  See  Perry's  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  iii.  p.  198. 

4  See  The  whole  Works  of  Sir  William  Dawes,  late  Archbishop  of  York, 
in  3  vols.  8vo.,  with  preface  giving  an  account  of  the  life  of  the  author, 
published  1733. 

5  Birch's  Life  of  Tillotson,  p.  61. 


PREACHING    OF    THE    PERIOD  255 

enough  expressed  and  argued  out,  but  not  very  remark 
able.1 

Bishop  Frampton  had  the  rare  honour  of  meeting  with 
the  approbation  of  Pepys,  who  speaks  most  enthusiastically 
of  his  preaching  ; 2  but  I  do  not  know  of  any  of  his  sermons 
being  extant. 

The  Cambridge  Platonists  stood  as  far  apart  in  their 
preaching  as  in  their  lives  from  their  contemporaries. 
The  greatest  preacher  among  them,  John  Smith,  died, 
at  an  early  age,  before  the  Eestoration.  But  Whichcote 
preached  to  appreciative  audiences  in  London  for  more  than 
twenty  years  after  that  date.  Worthington  was  preaching 
his  thoughtful  and  exquisitely  worded  sermons  at  S.  Bennet 
Fink,  '  till  the  church  and  parish  were  laid  in  ashes ' 3  by 
the  Fire  of  London,  and  in  1670  was  lecturer  at  Hackney ; 
Bust  was  carried  off  to  Ireland  by  his  friend  and  patron, 
Jeremy  Taylor,  whose  pulpit  eloquence  he  almost  rivalled  ; 
Norris  of  Bemerton,  the  last  survivor  of  the  band,  published 
sermons  on  the  'Beatitudes'  which  were  so  popular  that  they 
passed  through  fifteen  editions  by  1728.  But,  as  a  rule, 
the  sermons  of  the  Platonists  must  have  been  '  caviare  to 
the  general ; '  they  are  far  too  subtle  and  refined  for  the 
popular  taste  ;  none  but  the  most  highly  educated  could 
have  appreciated  their  almost  unrivalled  beauty. 

The  general  impression  derived  from  a  careful  study  of 
the  sermons  of  the  period  is  that  the  standard  was  high ; 
and  on  the  whole  it  certainly  seems  to  have  been  so  re 
garded  by  contemporaries.  '  We  have,'  writes  Glanvill  of 
Bath  in  1678  '  (blessed  be  God),  plenty  of  learn'd  and  most 
excellent  preachers,  as  many,  I  believe,  as  any  age  or 
nation  ever  had ; ' 4  Edward  Chamberlayne  writes  of  the 
London  clergy  about  the  same  time :  '  These  have  for  a 

1  See  Tivo  Sermons  preached  before  King  diaries  IL,  by  Z.  Cradock. 

2  Diary  for  January  20,  166  6. 

3  Preface  to  Worthington's  Great  Duty  of  Self -Resignation  to  the  Divine 
Will,  by  E.  F.  (that  is,  no  doubt,  Edmund  Fowler). 

4  A  Reasonable  Defence  of  Preaching,  and  the  way  of  it,— a  Dialogue. 


256          LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

long  time  had  the  most  excellent  way  of  sermonising  in 
Christendom  ;  insomuch  as  divers  divines  of  foreign  Re 
formed  Churches  have  come  hither  on  purpose  to  learn 
their  manner  of  haranguing  in  the  pulpit ; ' l  and  John 
Chamberlayne,  son  of  the  above,  wrote  in  1707 :  '  The 
English  are  a  people  that  are  extremely  taken  with  oratory, 
and  they  have  the  best  sort  of  it  in  the  greatest  perfection, 
that  of  the  Pulpits.'2  Eachard,  while  ridiculing  some 
kinds  of  preaching,  admits  that  '  it  is  nothing  but  perfect 
madness,  ignorance,  and  stupidity  not  to  acknowledge  that 
the  present  Church  of  England  affords  as  considerable 
scholars  and  as  solid  and  eloquent  preachers  as  are  any 
where  to  be  found  in  the  whole  Christian  world.' 3  Addison 
calls  the  sermons  of  his  day  '  the  best  sermons  in  the  world,' 
though  he  thinks  they  are  spoiled  by  the  apathetic  delivery 
of  them ; 4  and  further  testimony  might  be  quoted  to  the 
same  effect.5  Of  the  three  best  known  diarists  of  the 
period,  Pepys,  Evelyn,  and  Thoresby,  two  give  a  most 
favourable  account  of  the  sermons  they  heard.  Thoresby 
always  speaks  of  them  with  approbation ;  and  Evelyn, 
besides  constantly  referring  to  the  excellence  of  individual 
preachers,  affirms  roundly,  that  'of  plain,  practical  dis 
courses,  this  nation,  or  any  other,  never  had  greater  plenty 
or  more  profitable,  I  am  confident.' 6  Pepys,  on  the  con 
trary,  gives  us  but  a  very  indifferent  account  of  the  sermons 


1  Angtia  Notitia,  Part  II.,  p.  201.      2  Anglice  Notitice,  Part  III.,  p.  310. 

3  Observations  upon  the  Answer  to  the  Grounds  and  Occasions  of  the  Con 
tempt  of  the  Clergy. 

4  Spectator,  No.  407. 

5  E.g.  the  anonymous  writer  of  A  Serious  Enquiry  into  the  Present  State 
of  the  Church  of  England,  &c.,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Atterbury,  1711,  says  :  «  We 
aro  famed  all  over  the  world  for  this  talent  in  the  pulpit.'     Lady  Masham, 
whose  testimony  ranks  high,  owing  to  the  very  superior  minds  with  which 
she  was  brought  into  contact,  wrote  in  1696 :  '  There  cannot  anywhere  be 
found  so  good  a  collection  of  discourses  on  moral  subjects  as  might  be  made 
of  English  sermons  written  by  divines  of  our  Church.'  (Discourse  concern 
ing  the  Love  of  God.} 

6  Diary,  July  15,  1683. 


PREACHING    OF    THE    PERIOD  257 

he  heard.  But  then  it  must  be  remembered  (1)  that  he  had 
a  way  of  going  about  from  church  to  church,  hearing  part 
of  a  sermon  here  and  another  part  there,1  so  that  the  im 
pression  he  carried  away  with  him  must  have  been  that  of 
a  mosaic  rather  than  a  sermon ;  (2)  that  when  he  did  keep 
his  seat  at  one  church,  he  frequently  slept  all  through  the 
sermon ;  and  (3)  that  when  he  kept  his  eyes  open  they  were 
not  always  fixed  upon  the  preacher,  but  wandered  about 
to  see  what  beauties  there  were  among  the  congregation.2 
All  this,  to  say  nothing  of  the  minor  distraction  of  see 
ing  Lady  Batten  or  some  one  in  the  seat  which  his  wife 
ought  to  have  had,3  detracts  a  little  from  the  value  of  his 
evidence,  though,  as  he  is  by  far  the  most  racy  diarist 
of  the  three,  it  is  much  better  known  than  that  of  the 
other  two. 

Dr.  Birch  claims  for  Tillotson  the  credit  of  having 
'  brought  back  both  purity  of  language  and  force  of  reason 
ing  in  place  of  the  older  style  of  sermon,'  which  he  is 
pleased  to  describe  as  '  oppressed  with  an  unnecessary 
mixture  of  various  languages,  affected  wit,  and  puerile 
rhetorick.'  The  honour,  however,  of  having  brought  about 
a  change  which  was  thought  to  be  so  much  for  the  better 
was  attributed  to  others  besides  Tillotson.  Salmon  de 
clares  it  was  '  the  justness  of  the  king's  (Charles  II.)  taste 
that  occasioned  that  Eeformation  in  Pulpit  Oratory  which 

1  '  November   9,  1662,   Lord's   Day. — Called   in   at   several   churches.' 
'  June  26,  1664. — Called  at  several  churches.' 

2  '  May  26,  1667.— At  S.Margaret's,  Westminster.     Did  entertain  myself 
with  my  perspective  glass  up  and  down  the  church,  by  which  I  had  the  great 
pleasure  of  seeing  and  gazing  at  a  great  many  very  fine  women  ;  and  what 
with  that  and  sleeping  I  passed  away  the  time  till  sermon  was  done.'     '  De 
cember  25,  1664. — To  Mr.  Rawlinson's  church,  and  a  very  great  store  of  fine 
women  there  is  in  this  church.'     '  April  17,  1664. — Slept  soundly  all  the 
sermon.' 

3  '  March  15,  1663.— Up  with  my  wife  first  time  to  church,  where  our 
pew  was  so  full  that  I  perceive  we  shall  be  shut  out.'     '  March  3,  1662. — My 
wife  and  I  to  church  and  seated  ourselves,  she  below  me,  and  by  that  means 
the  precedence  of  the  pew  which  my  Lady  Batten  and  her  daughter  takes  is 
confounded,'  &c. 


258        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Burnet  so  justly  admires  ;  ' l  Granger  affirms  that  Bishop 
Lloyd  of  S.  Asaph  *  was  a  principal  reformer  of  the  language 
and  method  of  sermons ; ' 2  and  as  a  matter  of  fact,  South 
preached  in  the  plain  style  long  before  Tillotson's  influence 
could  have  permeated  through  the  country.  But  at  any 
rate,  Tillotson  may  be  taken  as  a  typical  representative  of 
the  new  style,  as  his  predecessor  at  Canterbury  was  of  the 
old.  Or  rather,  both  were  extreme  specimens  of  their 
respective  styles.  It  would  be  difficult  for  a  mere  readerN 
of  the  sermons  of  both  to  realise  that  Sancroft  and  Tillotson/ 
were  contemporaries.  Whether  the  change  was  so  entirely 
for  the  better  as  the  jubilant  tone  in  which  contemporaries 
speak  of  it  would  imply,  may  be  doubted.  If  the  new 
fashion  was,  as  Evelyn  declares  it  was,  '  a  far  more  profit 
able  way,' 3  there  is  no  more  to  be  said,  for  the  design  of 
all  sermons  is  to  be  profitable.  But  assuredly,  if  we  regard 
them  from  a  purely  literary  point  of  view,  the  sermons  of 
the  old  style  were  far  superior  to  those  of  the  new.  No 
names  are  so  great  as  those  which  were  noticed  first  in  this 
chapter ;  the  descent  from  Jeremy  Taylor  to  the  best  of  the 
Queen  Anne  preachers  is  great ; 4  and  there  is  reason  to 
think  that  the  desire  to  be  plain  sometimes  led  the  preacher 
to  be  grovelling. 

The  change,  also,  in  the  length  of  the  sermons  was 
not  altogether  to  their  advantage  as  compositions.  The 
required  brevity  no  longer  admitted  of  the  exhaustiveness 
of  a  Barrow  and  an  Andrewes,  or  the  splendid  elaborateness 
of  a  Jeremy  Taylor.  The  ancient  canonical  measure  of  the 
hour,  of  which  the  hour-glass  in  the  pulpit  was  the  visible 
reminder,  is  spoken  of,  almost  as  a  matter  of  course,  as 
the  proper  length  for  the  sermon,  both  before  the  Rebellion 

1  An  Impartial  Examination  of  Bisliop  Burners  History  of  his  Own 
Times,  i.  p.  544  (published  1724). 

'2  Biographical  History  of  England,  iii.  p.  288. 

3  Diary  for  July  15,  1683. 

4  This,  at  least,  is  my  opinion  ;  Prof.  Mahaffy  (Decay  of  Modern  Preach- 
ing,  p.  83)  seems  to  rate  the  Queen  Anne  preachers  as  the  highest  of  all. 


PREACHING    OF    THE    PERIOD  259 

and  after  the  Restoration.1  But  there  was  afterwards  a  dis 
position  on  all  sides  to  shorten  it.  Tillotson's  sermons 
could  not  have  taken  more  than  half  an  hour  to  deliver. 
Burnet,  in  his  '  Pastoral  Care,'  advises  clergy  not  to  preach 
for  more  than  half  an  hour.2  Granville,  who  was  the  very 
antipodes  of  both,  desires  his  curate  to  shorten  the  sermon 
to  half  an  hour  rather  than  miss  one  iota  of  the  prayers.3 
Atterbury's  sermons  were  much  within  the  hour,  and  so 
were  Sharp's. 

Another  change  which  met  with  doubtful,  or  at  least 
with  varying  success,  was  the  substitution  of  unwritten  for 
written  sermons.  The  latter  were  usual  at  the  Restora 
tion,  being  the  natural  result  of  the  reaction  from  the 
Puritans,  who  trusted  to  the  immediate  inspiration  of  the 
Holy  Spirit ;  they  were  also  necessary  when  it  was  thought 
expedient  to  compose  learned  sermons  to  accentuate  the 
contrast  between  the  trained  divine  and  the  illiterate 
amateur.  But  by  degrees  they  became  less  common. 
Dean  Comber  hardly  ever  wrote  out  any  sermons,  having 
always  adhered  to  the  plan  of  preaching  from  notes  which 
he  began  as  soon  as  he  took  priest's  orders.4  There  are 
conflicting  accounts  about  Tillotson,5  but  there  is  no  doubt 
that  Burnet  preached  without  book,  and  recommended  the 
practice  very  strongly — in  fact,  rather  offensively — to  all 
clergymen.6  Samuel  Wesley,  among  his  instructions  to  his 
curate  at  Epworth,  tells  him,  instead  of  reading  his  sermons 

1  '  Here  I  might  spend  the  hour  with  much  delight.'     (Sancroft.) 
'The  parson  exceeds  not  an  hour  in  preaching.'     (George  Herbert.) 

'  We  sit  an  hour  at  a  sermon.'  (Art  of  Contentment,  by  Lady  Pakington.) 
'  I  did  purposely  contract  my  meditations,  and  express  them  under  the 
ancient  canonical  measure  of  an  hour.'     (Isaac  Basire.) 

2  Pages  222-3. 

3  Directions  to  the  Curates  of  Sedg field  and  Easington,  1669.     Gran- 
ville's  Remains,  Part  I.,  pp.  129-133. 

4  Memoir  by  his  great-grandson,  p.  361. 

5  See  Wordsworth's  Ecclesiastical  Biography,  sub  nomine. 

6  See  Pastoral  Care.     Where  he  tells  those  who  read  the  sermon  that 
'  this  would  not  be  endured  by  any  nation  but  ours.' 

s  2 


260        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

to  repeat  them  from  memory.  In  1674  the  Duke  of 
Monmouth,  as  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
censured  '  in  the  king's  name '  the  use  of  the  MS.  in 
the  pulpit,  and  the  Duke  of  Ormond,  as  Chancellor,  did 
the  same  at  Oxford,  being  strongly  supported  by  Dr. 
Bathurst,  President  of  Trinity,  among  others.1  But  in  his 
charge  in  1695,  Bishop  Sprat  is  bold  enough  to  protest 
against  extempore  preaching.  On  the  whole  there  was 
then  as  now,  and  as  always  ought  to  be,  no  general  rule  for 
a  duty  which  some  can  perform  best  with,  and  some  with 
out  a  MS. 

1  See  Dr.  Stoughton's  Church  of  the  Restoration,  ii.  p.  255.  See  also  Life, 
of  Isaac  Milles  :  '  Extempore  preaching  was  then  (about  1674)  the  practice  of 
the  generality  of  the  clergy '  (p.  32).  Also  Swift's  Letter  to  a  young  Clergyman. 


26t 


CHAPTEE  VII. 

DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL    WORKS. 

FROM  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  our  period  there  was  one 
work  which  was  valued  far  above  all  others  by  churchmen 
of  every  type.  That  was  The  Whole  Duty  of  Man.  It 
was  published  about  three  years  before  the  Kestoration, 
anonymously  but  under  the  sanction  of  the  great  name  of 
Dr.  Hammond.  Mr.  Garthwait,  the  bookseller,  with  whom 
the  sealed  MS.  had  been  left,  consulted  Dr.  Hammond 
about  its  publication,  and  requested  him  to  write  a  preface 
if  he  approved.  Dr.  Hammond  replied  in  a  letter  full  of 
commendation,  which  is  usually  printed  with  the  book  in 
lieu  of  a  preface.  The  aim  of  the  work  is  expressed  in  the 
title  which  is  rather  an  ambitious  one.  It  runs  thus  :  '  The 
Whole  Duty  of  Man  laid  down  in  a  plain  and  familiar 
way,  for  the  use  of  all,  but  especially  of  the  meanest 
reader.'  It  contains  seventeen  chapters,  '  one  whereof  being 
read  every  Lord's  Day,  the  whole  may  be  read  through 
thrice  every  year  ;  '  and  then  follows  a  remark  which  has 
now  a  slightly  ludicrous  sound,  reminding  one  of  an 
advertisement  of  patent  pills — *  Necessary  for  families.'  An 
author  who  expects  his  book  to  be  read  through  three  times 
every  year,  must  indeed  rate  its  value  highly,  but  the 
result  proved  that  he  did  not  overrate  it,  The  book  very 
soon  took  its  rank  next  to  the  Bible  and  Prayer  Book, 
indeed  it  was  frequently  coupled  with  the  two  in  a  way  in 
which  no  one  would  have  dreamed  of  coupling  any  other 
book.  Nelson,  in  his  '  Ways  and  Means  of  Doing  Good,' 


262        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

'  recommends  Persons  of  Quality  to  disperse  Bibles,  Prayer 
Books,  and  "  The  Whole  Duty  of  Man."  It  was  a  common 
requirement  from  teachers  of  the  newly  founded  charity 
schools  that  they  should  teach  *  Church  principles  of 
religion  as  laid  down  in  the  Catechism,  and  by  the  help  of 
"  The  Whole  Duty  of  Man."  '  One  item  of  Dodwell's  «  Advice 
to  a  young  Man  on  his  susception  of  Holy  Orders,'  was  to 
'  persuade  every  family  in  his  parish  to  read  "  The  Whole 
Duty  of  Man  "  according  to  the  method  of  the  partition 
therein  prescribed,'  that  is,  three  times  through  every  year. 
Bishop  Bull  advised  *  poor  ministers  in  his  diocese  who  were 
incapable  of  preaching  in  any  tolerable  manner,  to  read  now 
and  then  a  chapter  or  section  out  of  "  The  Whole  Duty  of 
Man  "  in  lieu  of  a  sermon.' 1  It  wras  sometimes  chained  in 
churches  to  be  read  aloud  there.2  The  '  Athenian  Oracle  ' 
thinks  it  '  the  best  book  in  the  world  that  ever  was  printed, 
next  to  the  Bible,  and  the  authors  the  best  writers  next  to 
those  who  writ  by  inspiration  '  (p.  64).  William  Whiston 
says  that  his  father  often  told  him  that  after  the  Restora 
tion  all  profession  of  seriousness  would  have  died  out  but 
for  Hammond's  *  Practical  Catechism  '  and  '  The  Whole  Duty 
of  Man.'  Eachard  advises  readers  of  books  about  '  expe 
riences,  getting  of  Christ,  and  the  like,  to  change  them  all 
away  for  "  The  Whole  Duty  of  Man."  ' 3  This  last  quota 
tion  points,  no  doubt,  to  one  cause  of  its  appreciation.  '  It 
was  popular,'  says  Canon  Bowles,  *  as  succeeding  to  the 
Fiduciary  system,'  and  for  the  same  reason  it  was  *  vitu 
perated  by  a  certain  class  of  pietists  ; ' 4 — that  is,  by  the 
Evangelical  school  in  the  eighteenth  century.  One  can 
quite  understand  the  objections  which  were  raised  by  them 
against  it,  but  it  cannot  be  fairly  said  that  a  holy  life  is  not 

1  Charge  to  the  Clergy  ofS.  David's,  1708.  Nelson's  Life,  pp.  102  and  244. 

2  A  chained  copy  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  interesting  library  at  Wimborne 
Minster. 

3  Observations  upon  the  Answer  to   Grounds  for  the  Contempt  of  the 
Clergy,  p.  240. 

*  Bo\yles'  Life  of  Ken,  i.  p.  48. 


DEVOTIONAL   AND    PRACTICAL    WORKS  263 

recommended  on  Christian  motives  in  '  The  Whole  Duty  of 
Man.'  The  doctrine  of  the  Atonement,  e.g.,  is  most  dis 
tinctly  stated,  though  of  course  it  is  not  put  so  prominently 
forward  as  it  afterwards  was  by  the  Evangelical  school. 
After  the  Restoration  its  popularity  extended  beyond  the 
limits  of  rigid  churchmen.  Thomas  Gouge,  a  benevolent 
nonconformist,  '  procured  it  to  be  translated,  with  the  Bible, 
Liturgy,  and  other  good  books  into  Welsh  ; ' l  and  Armstrong, 
a  friend  and  supporter  of  the  unfortunate  Duke  of  Mon- 
mouth,  and  therefore  presumably  favourable  to  Protestant 
dissent,  read  it  on  his  way  to  Tyburn.2 

When  one  turns  from  what  was  said  about  the  work  to 
the  work  itself,  a  feeling  of  disappointment  is,  perhaps,  in 
evitable.  In  beauty  of  thought  and  expression  it  is  not  for  a 
moment  to  be  compared  with  Taylor's  '  Holy  Living,'  and 
'  Holy  Dying,'  nor,  in  strength  of  argument  and  general 
intellectual  power,  with  Law's  '  Serious  Call.'  It  is  simply 
a  well-written,  old-fashioned  statement  of  Church  doctrine, 
and  a  recommendation  of  a  Christian  life  based  on  strictly 
Church  principles,  with  occasionally  a  dignified,  but  never 
scurrilous,  reflection  on  the  modes  of  religious  life  during 
the  Rebellion.  The  three  branches  of  man's  duty,  '  to  live 
soberly,  righteously,  and  godly  in  this  present  world  '  are  the 
main  burden  of  the  work. 

The  interest  in  the  book  was  probably  increased  by  the 
curiosity  which  prevailed  respecting  its  authorship.  In  this 
respect  it  rivalled  the  '  Junius'  Letters  '  of  the  next  century. 
Dorothy,  Lady  Pakington,  Archbishop  Sterne,  Archbishop 
Bancroft,  Archbishop  Frewen,  Bishop  Fell,  Bishop  Hench 
man,  Dr.  Allestre,  Dr.  Hammond,  Dr.  Chaplin,  Mr.  Fulman, 
Mr.  Abraham  Woodhead,  have  all  been  mentioned  as  probable 
authors,  the  first  two,  especially  the  former,  having  the 
most  suffrages ;  but  the  opinion  of  the  elder  Disraeli  is  pro 
bably  correct,  that  '  the  modesty  of  the  author  made  him 

1  Birch's  Life  of  Tillotson,  p.  89. 

2  See  Von  Eanke's  History  of  England,  iv.  p.  197. 


264       LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

(or  her)  effectually  conceal  all  the  possible  clues  to  iden 
tity.'  ' 

The  question  became  further  complicated  by  the  pub 
lication  of  several  other  works  under  the  name  of  '  the 
Author  of  the  Whole  Duty  of  Man/  which  it  is  all  but 
certain  were  not  written  by  that  author.  These  are,  The 
Causes  of  the  Decay  of  Christian  Piety,  a  severe  diatribe 
against  the  immorality  of  the  Restoration  period,  which 
was  evidently  a  bitter  disappointment  to  the  anonymous 
author  who  had  expected  halcyon  days  when  the  cloud  that 
had  hung  over  the  Church  was  rolled  away;  The  Gentle- 
mans  Calling,  which  combats  the  odious  but  fashionable 
notion  that  immorality  and  irreligion  were  characteristics 
of  the  fine  gentleman ;  The  Ladies'  Calling,  a  much  needed 
protest  against  the  levity  which  prevailed,  especially  in  the 
higher  circles ;  and  The  Art  of  Contentment,  which,  in 
its  latest  edition,  is  boldly  attributed  to  Lady  Pakington, 
though  the  evidence  of  the  authorship  is  by  no  means 
complete.  Judging  from  internal  evidence,  none  of  these 
works  appear  to  be  written  by  the  same  author  as  the 
'  Whole  Duty  ' ;  none  of  them,  certainly,  attained  anything 
like  the  same  popularity,  though  they  were,  no  doubt,  all 
extensively  read  in  their  day. 

Infinitely  superior  to  '  The  Whole  Duty  of  Man,'  but 

1  Those  who  wish  to  pursue  the  curious  question  of  the  authorship  of 
the  work  may  be  referred  to  the  following  works  i—The  Art  of  Contentment, 
by  Lady  Pakington,  ed.  Kev.  W.Pridden  ;  Editor's  Preface,  vol.  xvii.  of  Eng 
lishman's  Library  ;  Bishop  Fell's  Life  of  Henry  Hammond,  prefixed  to  the 
edition  of  the  Practical  Catechism  (Library  of  Anglo-Catholic  Theology, 
Part  LI.) ;  Carwithen's  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  iii.  p.  18  ;  Reliqui<e 
Hearniana,  Diary  for  February  6,  170 6,  August  5, 1706  ;  Notes  and  Queries 
for  January  21,  1882  ;  Life  of  Dr.  Humphrey  Prideaux,  p.  19  ;  Granger's 
Biographical  History  of  England,  iii.  p.  253  ;  Ballard's  Memoirs  of  British 
Ladies  (Dorothy,  Lady  Pakington)  ;  Hickes'  Preface  to  his  Anglo -Saxon  and 
Mceso-Oothic  Grammar ;  Athenian  Oracle,  i.  pp.  63-4  ;  The  Christian  Religion 
as  professed  by  a  daughter  of  the  Church  of  England  (Mary  Astell) ;  Bowies' 
Life  of  Ken.  Most  of  these  take  different  views.  The  British  Museum 
Catalogue  mentions  the  work  under  the  heads  of  Lady  Pakington  and  Arch 
bishop  Sterne,  and  no  others. 


DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL    WORKS  265 

not  nearly  so  popular  as  that  or  several  other  books  which 
will  come  before  us,  were  Jeremy  Taylor's  devotional  works. 
Bishop  Heber,  indeed,  thinks  that  they  were  universally 
popular,1  and  so  they  were  in  comparison  with  the  '  Ductor 
Dubitantium,'  with  which  he  is  contrasting  them ;  but  if 
either  the  warmth  and  abundance  of  testimony,  or  the  ex 
tent  of  sale  is  a  criterion,  they  scarcely  held  the  place  they 
ought  to  have  held,  viz.  in  the  very  foremost  rank  of  their 
kind.  Highly  educated  men  no  doubt  rated  them  at  their 
proper  value.  John  Scott,  e.g.,  refers  to  the  '  Holy  Living 
and  Dying'  as  'an  incomparable  treatise,' 2  but  the  very 
beauty  of  their  style  was  a  hindrance  to  their  general  accept 
ance.  We  have  seen  in  the  matter  of  preaching  that  there 
was  a  strong  and  growing  tendency  to  value  plainness  and 
even  homeliness  of  style,  and  the  same  tendency  is  observable 
in  regard  to  that  kind  of  literature  which  approaches 
nearest  to  sermons.  Posterity  however  has  duly  redressed 
the  balance,  and  while  the  '  Whole  Duty  of  Man  '  and  many 
other  immensely  admired  works  in  their  day  are  now  almost 
forgotten,  Jeremy  Taylor  is  still  read  by  thousands.  Indeed, 
he  is  so  well  known  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  dwell  on 
him.  The  Golden  Grove,  or  Prayers  for  every  day  in  the 
Week,  the  Holy  Living  and  the  Holy  Dying,  The  Great 
Exemplar,  or  Life  of  Christ,  and  The  Marriage  King,  are 
deservedly  the  most  popular  of  his  devotional  works ;  and  it 
is  creditable  to  the  taste  of  the  English  nation  that  it  has 
shown  and  still  shows  a  due  appreciation  of  one  who  was 
the  greatest  of  English  devotional  writers  as  he  was  the 
greatest  of  English  preachers. 

The  reaction  against  the  excessive  love  of  sermons,  and 
in  favour  of  catechising,  naturally  produced  or  revived  a 
large  number  of  catechetical  treatises.  First  among  these, 
both  in  date  and  importance,  was  Hammond's  Practical 

1  Heber's  Life  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  pi'efixed  to  his  edition  of  the  Works, 
p.  xcvi. 

"  Preface  to  The  Christian  Life. 


266       LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Catechism,  which  the  writer  drew  up  *  for  his  own  private 
convenience  out  of  those  materials  which  he  had  made  use 
of  in  the  catechetic  institution  of  the  youth  of  his  parish.'  l 
He  happened  to  shew  the  MS.  to  Dr.  Potter,  Provost  of 
Queen's  College,  Oxford,  who  was  so  impressed  with  its 
value  that  he  persuaded  him  to  publish  it  anonymously, 
and  generously  offered  to  undertake  the  whole  care  and 
charge  of  the  first  edition  (1644).  Thus  we  owe  to  a 
kind  of  accident  one  of  the  most  valuable  works  on  the 
subject  which  has  ever  been  published.  The  work  came 
into  great  request  after  the  Eestoration,  and  is  still  well 
known. 

A  more  original,  if  not  a  more  valuable  treatment  of 
the  same  topic,  may  be  found  in  Bishop  Ken's  Exposition 
of  the  Church  Catechism,  or  Practice  of  Divine  Love.  It 
was  composed  for  the  benefit  of  the  diocese  of  Bath  and 
Wells,  and  its  object  is  to  shew  that  the  love  of  God  is  the 
central  thought  of  the  whole  Catechism.  The  argument  of 
the  whole  work  is  thus  ingeniously  summed  up :  *  If  I 
seriously  desire  the  love  of  God,  I  must  first  expel  all 
contrary  loves  out  of  my  heart,  and  then  consider  the  motives 
and  causes  that  excite  it ;  the  former  is  taught  in  the  vow 
of  baptism,  the  latter  in  the  Creed.  When  divine  love  is 
once  produced  my  next  care  is  to  put  it  in  practice,  and  that 
is,  by  bringing  forth  the  fruits  or  effects  of  love,  which  are 
all  contained  in  the  Ten  Commandments.  When  the  love 
of  God  is  produced  in  my  heart,  and  is  set  on  work,  my 
last  concern  is  to  preserve,  and  ensure,  and  quicken  it ;  it 
is  preserved  by  prayer,  the  pattern  of  which  is  the  Lord's 
Prayer  ;  it  is  ensured  to  us  by  the  Sacraments  which  are  the 
pledges  of  love,  and  more  particularly  it  is  quickened  by  the 
Holy  Eucharist  which  is  the  feast  of  love,  so  that  the  plain 
order  of  the  Catechism  teaches  us  the  rise,  the  progress, 

1  Bishop  Fell's  Life  of  the  Author,  prefixed  to  the  sixteenth  edition  of 
Hammond's  Practical  Catechism  (Library  of  Anglo-Catholic  Theology), 
p.  xxxi. 


DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL    WORKS  267 

and  the  perfection  of  divine  love,  which  God  of  His  great 
mercy  give  me  grace  to  follow'  (p.  4). 

Another  excellent  treatise  on  the  same  subject  is  Simon 
Lowth's  Catechetical  Questions,  &c.  (1673).  The  author 
was  vicar  of  Tylerhurst,  near  Reading,  and  his  little  book 
is  evidently  the  production  of  a  working  clergyman  who 
knew  what  was  wanted  in  a  parish.  It  is  simply  an  ampli 
fication  of  the  Church  Catechism,  and  is  plain,  clear,  and 
definite  in  its  Church  principles.  For  practical  purposes  it 
is  one  of  the  best,  if  not  the  best,  that  will  come  before  us. 

The  Catechism  of  the  Church  of  England  paraphrased, 
by  E.  Sherlock,  Eector  of  Winwick  (1661),  like  the  pre 
ceding,  clearly  grew  out  of  the  exigencies  of  a  hard-working 
parish  priest.  The  author  was  encouraged  to  publish  it  by 
the  commendation  of  the  great  Hammond,  whose  judgment 
was  certainly  not  at  fault  ;  it  is  an  excellent  paraphrase, 
and  passed  through  ten  editions  in  as  many  years. 

Dean  Comber's  Explanation  of  the  Church  Catechism 
(1666)  is  not  now  so  well  known  as  his  '  Companion  to  the 
Temple,'  but  his  biographer  seems  to  imply  that  it  was  con 
sidered  his  chef-d'oeuvre  in  his  own  day.1  The  plan  of  it 
was  '  so  laid  that  all  the  answers  are  "  Yes  "  or  "  No  " 
not  a  very  happy  plan,  one  would  think,  for  eliciting  youth 
ful  intelligence. 

Lancelot  Addison's  Primitive  Institution,  or  a  Season 
able  Discourse  of  Catechising  (1674),  deserves  notice,  if 
for  no  other  reason,  as  the  work  of  the  father  of  one  who 
was  the  greatest  prose  writer  of  our  period.  It  is  not  a 
catechetical  treatise,  like  the  others,  but  an  earnest  recom 
mendation  of  the  duty  of  catechising,  and  is  interesting, 
among  other  reasons,  because  the  father's  quiet  humour 
frequently  reminds  us  of  his  greater  son.  '  Religion  began 
when  God  was  Adam's  catechist.'  '  The  penmen  of  dis 
putation  seem  to  have  intended  rather  the  Defamation  than 
the  Conviction  of  each  other ;  and  to  have  been  of  opinion 

1  Memoirs  of  Dean  Comber,  by  his  great-grandson,  p.  215. 


268       LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

that  men  were  to  be  refuted,  as  Mercury  of  old  was  worship!, 
by  throwing  dirt  and  stones  in  their  face.'  '  Catechising 
has  met  with  but  cold  entertainment  from  those  by  whom 
it  ought  to  have  been  most  lovingly  caressed.  In  most 
places  it  has  been  looked  upon  rather  as  a  Foreigner  than  a 
Native  of  the  Church,  and  as  fruits  of  their  mouth  never  in 
season  but  for  a  few  days  in  Lent ; '  and  so  forth.  Was  not 
Lancelot  the  true  father  of  Joseph  ? 

Dr.  Thomas  Marshall,  rector  of  Lincoln  College,  Oxford, 
drew  up  at  the  request  of  his  diocesan,  Bishop  Fell,  Notes 
of  Catechism,  to  be  used  by  ministers  of  the  diocese  in 
catechising  children,1  but  the  work  does  not  appear  to  be 
extant. 

And  last,  but  not  least,  we  have  Bishop  Beveridge's 
Church  Catechism  Explained  (1704),  which  has  the  ad 
vantage  of  having  been  written  by  one  who  had  had  one 
of  the  largest  and  most  successful  experiences  as  a  parish 
priest  of  any  clergyman  in  his  day.  It  was  dedicated  to 
the  clergy  of  the  diocese  of  S.  Asaph,  for  whose  special  use 
it  was  drawn  up  by  their  new  bishop ;  but  it  has  been  found 
most  useful  to  the  whole  of  that  National  Church  of  which 
its  writer  was  a  distinguished  ornament. 

This  is  by  no  means  an  exhaustive  list  of  the  catecheti 
cal  treatises  of  our  period,  but  it  may  suffice  to  shew  that 
the  subject  was  one  which  occupied  a  very  important  place 
in  the  minds  of  churchmen. 

Another  effect  of  the  restoration  of  the  Church  with  the 
Monarchy  was  a  demand  for  practical  works  on  the  Sacra 
ments,  especially  on  the  Holy  Communion,  and  the  demand 
was  met  with  a  corresponding  supply.  Perhaps  the  most 
remarkable  of  these  treatises  was  Dr.  Edward  Lake's 
'  Officium  Eucharisticum,  &c. ;  A  Preparatory  Service  to  a 
Devout  and  Worthy  Keception  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  with 
a  Meditation  for  Every  Day  in  the  Week  (1673).'  Dr. 
(afterwards  Archdeacon)  Lake  had  been  tutor  and  chaplain 

1  See  Athence  Oxonienses,  iv.  p.  170. 


DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL    WORKS  269 

to  the  Princess  Mary,  and  chaplain  to  the  Duke  of  York. 
Perhaps  his  connection  with  two  successive  sovereigns  may 
have  lent  an  adventitious  interest  to  his  little  work ;  but 
its  intrinsic  merit  was  great,  and  so  was  its  popularity.  It 
passed  through  fifteen  editions  in  twenty  years  and  fifteen 
more  in  the  next  fifty,  so  that  the  Oxford  republication  of  it 
in  1843  is  the  thirty-first  edition.  The  editor  of  Lake's 
'  Diary '  is  surprised  that  the  tutor  of  the  future  Queen 
Mary,  and  the  friend  of  Dr.  Compton,  *  the  Protestant 
Bishop,'  should  have  put  forth  a  work  which  certainly  ad 
vocates  advanced  Church  views  without  compromise  or 
disguise.  But  surely  there  is  no  need  of  surprise.  The 
Princess  Mary,  left  to  her  own  inclinations,  was  one  person  ; 
the  Queen  Mary,  under  the  influence  of  King  William,  quite 
another.  And  Dr.  Lake  was  as  truly  'Protestant,'  that  is, 
anti-Roman,  as  Dr.  Compton, — or,  say,  Dr.  Littledale.  In 
no  one  point  does  he  go  beyond  the  fair  limits  of  the 
English  Church.  He  does  not  profess  to  be  original.  '  I 
cannot,'  he  says  to  the  reader,  '  say  it  is  mine,  but  a  col 
lection,  and  recommends  itself  unto  thee,  clothed  in  the 
language,  not  of  any  private  conception  (of  such  the  world 
is  already  full  enough),  but  of  primitive  Liturgies  ;  '  but  the 
directions  for  self-examination  are  Dr.  Lake's  own,  and  they 
are  very  searching  and  very  striking. 

The  next  most  popular  treatises  on  the  Sacraments  were 
those  of  Bishop  Patrick.  One  of  these  is  called  A  Book  for 
Beginners,  or  a  Help  to  Young  Communicants,  which  gives 
one  the  impression  of  having  been  written,  as  of  course  it 
was,  by  a  man  of  great  experience  in  parochial  work.  Its 
elementary  nature  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  the 
first  chapter  contains  '  directions  for  such  as  cannot  read,' 
and  the  writer  desires  *  their  masters  or  mistresses,  or  some 
good  neighbour  or  relation,  to  be  so  charitable  as  to  read  to 
them  their  duty  about  the  matter.'  The  little  work  is 
thoroughly  adapted  for  such  very  rudimentary  intelligences, 
and  reminds  one  of  Bishop  Oxenden's  simplest  works,  which 


270       LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

many  parish  priests  have  found  so  very  acceptable  among  the 
poor  and  uneducated  in  our  own  day. 

It  is  characteristic  of  the  transition  through  which 
Bishop  Patrick's  mind  passed,  that  this  elementary  work 
was  the  product  of  his  later  days.  When  much  younger 
he  had  written  a  far  more  elaborate  treatise  on  the  same 
subject,  entitled  Mensa  Mystica  (1660).  It  is  full  of 
Greek  and  Latin  and  even  Hebrew  quotations,  and  a  strong 
vein  of  Platonism  runs  through  it.  It  is  written  in  the 
quaint  style  of  the  earlier  part  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
Patrick  also  wrote  a  Baptismal  treatise,  entitled  Aqua 
Genitalis,  a  Discourse  concerning  Baptism,  which  is  the 
substance  of  a  sermon  preached  at  All  Hallows'  Church, 
Lombard  Street,  but  much  enlarged.  This  too,  especially 
the  preface,  is  full  of  Platonism. 

That  deservedly  popular  writer  on  practical  subjects 
Kobert  Nelson,  published  a  sacramental  treatise,  entitled 
The  Great  Duty  of  frequenting  the  Christian  Sacrifice,  in 
1706.  Like  everything  which  this  good  man  wrote  it  is 
plain  and  to  the  point,  and  contains  some  good  *  Practical 
Devotions  for  the  Altar.' 

Another  exceedingly  good  Sacramental  treatise  is  Lance 
lot  Addison's  Christian's  Manual.  It  consists  of  two  parts 
(1)  '  The  Catechumen,  or  the  young  Person's  account  of 
his  knowledge  in  Eeligion,  before  his  admission  to  the 
Lord's  Supper.  (2)  An  Introduction  to  the  Sacrament,  or 
a  short,  plain,  and  safe  way  to  the  Communion  Table.'  Ifc 
is  as  plain  and  practical  as  Patrick's  '  Young  Beginner,' 
but  indicates  (what  one  would  have  hardly  expected)  a 
more  advanced  type  of  churchmanship,  and  it  contains, 
what  is  indeed  rare,  some  really  well-written  prayers. 

The  Pious  Communicant  rightly  prepared,  by  Samuel 
Wesley,  Hector  of  Epworth  (1700),  is  chiefly  remarkable  for 
a  very  spirited  rendering  of  the  whole  of  the  Great  Hallel 
(Psalms  113-118),  *  which,'  says  the  writer,  'was  the  Paschal 
Hymn  sung  by  the  Jews  at  the  Passover,  and  by  our  Saviour 


DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL    WORKS  271 

and  his  apostles  at  the  Institution  of  the  Lord's  Supper  ; 
and  any  of  them,  as  they  are  here  turned  into  metre,  may 
be  sung,  either  in  private,  or  by  a  family,  before  or  after  the 
Sacrament.'  This  work  is  also  notable  for  its  marked 
Church  tone,  which  is  also  conspicuous  in  an  '  Appendix  on 
Baptism.' 

William  Smythies'  Unworthy  Non-Communicant  (1683), 
is  a  work  that  deserves  the  most  respectful  consideration, 
owing  to  the  extraordinary  success  which  the  writer  met 
with  in  drawing  young  men  to  the  Holy  Table.  Its  main 
object  is  to  shew  that  '  there  is  generally  more  danger  in 
unworthy  neglecting  than  in  unworthy  receiving.'  It  is  all 
addressed  to  non-communicants,  and  is  practically  a  long, 
plain,  stirring,  but  rather  stern  sermon. 

Gabriel  Towerson  published  in  1686  a  book  Of  the 
Sacraments  in  general,  which  was  really  a  part  of  his 
'  Exposition  of  the  Church  Catechism,'  but  was  published 
separately.  It  is  of  the  old-fashioned  High  Church  type, 
strongly  anti-Koman,  and  full  of  references  to  the  Fathers. 
It  is  too  learned  for  a  popular  treatise,  at  least  in  the  present 
day. 

If  this  professed  to  be  an  account  of  all  the  Sacramental 
treatises  of  the  period,  many  others  would  have  to  be 
noticed,  and,  above  all  others,  Johnson  of  Cranbrook's 
Unbloody  Sacrifice ;  but  books  like  this,  immensely  valuable 
as  they  are,  would  come  more  properly  under  the  head  of 
controversial,  than  of  practical  and  devotional  writings. 

Of  course  the  Sacraments  hold  a  conspicuous  place  in 
those  practical  works  which  treat  of  public  worship  generally. 
By  far  the  most  popular  of  these  was  Dean  Comber's 
'  Companion  to  the  Temple,  or  An  Essay  on  the  Daily 
Offices  of  the  Church  '  (Part  I.,  1672).  It  is  a  sort  of 
paraphrase  of  the  Liturgy,  and,  as  its  alternative  title 
indicates,  strongly  recommends  daily  service.  Without 
disparagement  to  an  excellent  book,  one  cannot  but  feel 
that  its  seasonableness,  as  coming  soon  after  the  Eestora- 


2/2        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

tion  of  the  Common  Prayer,  accounts  for  its  extraordinary 
popularity.  It  is  said  that  a  London  clergyman  purposed 
having  the  three  volumes  chained  in  his  parish  church,  and 
that  the  Dean  of  S.  Paul's  was  accustomed  to  *  buy  a  dozen 
at  a  time  to  bestow,  as  it  is  believed,  on  the  ministers  he 
prefers  in  the  citie.'  '  Comber's  biographer  complains  that 
'  Wheatly  borrowed  his  best  parts  from  hence.' 2  Be  this  as 
it  may,  the  later  has  now  practically  superseded  the  earlier 
work. 

William  Sherlock's  Discourse  of  Religious  Assemblies 
(1681)  is  not  a  paraphrase  or  explanation  of,  but  a  persua 
sive  to  attend  the  Church  services.  It  is  a  particularly 
sensible  and  interesting  work,  and  well  deserved  to  be 
republished,  as  it  has  been  in  our  own  day.  Still  more 
popular  was  the  same  writer's  Practical  Discourse  concern 
ing  Death,  which  went  through  thirty  editions  in  a  very 
short  time,  and  has  lately  been  republished.3  In  spite  of 
the  enthusiastic  praise  which  Addison  lavished  upon  it,4  it 
does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  so  powerful  a  work  as  the  one 
noticed  above. 

John  Scott's  Christian  Life  is  also  extolled  by  Addison 
as  one  of  the  finest  and  most  rational  schemes  of  divinity 
that  is  written  in  our  tongue  or  any  other.5  The  praise  is 
not  exaggerated,  but  when  this  work  is  termed  a  '  rational 
scheme,'  we  must  remember  what  Scott  meant  by  '  reason.' 
It  was  '  the  noblest  principle  of  our  nature,  that  by  which 
we  are  raised  above  the  brutes,  yea,  by  which  we  are  allied 
to  angels,  and  do  border  upon  God  Himself  (vol.  i.  p.  49). 
*  He  that  follows  this  reason  sits  above  the  clouds  in  a  calm 
and  quiet  aether,  and  with  a  brave  indifferency  hears  the 
rowling  thunder  grumble  and  burst  under  his  feet'  (p.  68). 
'  That  light  of  reason  which  shineth  in  human  and  angelical 

»  Memoirs  of  Dean  Comber,  by  his  great-grandson,  p.  93.         -  Id.  p.  67. 
3  Under  the  able  editorship  of  Rev.  H.  Melville,  Vol.  XI.  of  the  English* 
man's  Library,  1840. 

*  Spectator,  No.  289.  s  Spectator,  No.  447. 


DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL    WORKS  273 

minds,  being  rayed  forth  and  derived  from  Him,  He  must 
have  it  in  Himself  in  perfection  '  (ii.  p.  247).  In  fact,  Scott 
meant  by  reason  what  the  Platonists  meant  by  it,  and  he 
differed  as  widely  as  possible  from  those  who  were  afterwards 
called  '  rationalists ;  '  he  was,  indeed,  distinctly  a  high 
churchman.  What  a  beautiful  description  this  is  of  the 
baptized  Christian  :  '  In  our  Baptism,  wherein  we  gave  up 
our  names  to  Christ,  we  became  denizens  and  freemen  of 
Heaven.  All  the  difference  between  them  and  us  is  only 
this,  that  \ve  are  abroad,  and  they  at  home ;  we  are  on 
this,  and  they  on  the  other  side  of  Jordan  ;  we  in  the 
acquest  and  they  in  possession  of  the  heavenly  Canaan.  .  .  . 
Shame  will  it  be  to  us  not  to  copy  their  behaviour,  we  who 
are  below  stairs  in  the  same  house '  (i.  p.  174).  We  are 
strongly  reminded  of  the  refined  thoughts  and  exquisite 
language  of  the  Cambridge  Platonists  all  through  this 
treatise.  Only  Scott  was  more  practical.  The  exigencies 
of  his  position  brought  him  down  from  the  clouds.  A 
resident  fellow  of  Christ's  or  Emmanuel  can  afford  to  dwell 
in  sublime  abstraction  ;  a  hard-working  parish  priest  cannot. 
Scott  was  rector  of  S.  Giles'  in  the  Fields  at  a  time  when 
religious  controversy  seemed  likely  to  put  in  the  background 
the  importance  of  a  religious  life,  and  '  he  thought  a  discourse 
of  the  Christian  Life,  which  is  the  proper  sphere  of  Christian 
zeal,  might  be  a  good  expedient  to  take  men  off  from  these 
dangerous  contentions.' l  He  succeeded  in  drawing  a  very 
beautiful  and  attractive  portrait  of  such  a  life  ;  in  fact,  next 
to  Jeremy  Taylor,  no  writer  has  expressed  such  refined 
thoughts  in  such  refined  language  as  Scott  has  in  his 
'  Christian  Life.'  The  only  drawback  is  that  it  is  too  long ; 
the  three  thick  volumes  might  with  advantage  have  been 
condensed  into  one. 

If  the  *  Christian  Life '  is  too  long,  another  and  still 
more  popular  work  on  the  same  subject,  Eawlet's  Chris 
tian  Monitor,  falls  into  the  other  extreme.  Its  compass  is 

1  Epistle  dedicatory  to  the  Bishop  of  London. 

T 


274        LIFE    IN    TIIE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

rather  that  of  the  modern  tract  than  of  the  solid  volumes  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  But  it  was  specially  written  for  the 
poor,  whose  limited  capacity  for  reading  the  writer  knew 
well  from  his  experience  in  his  parish  in  Newcastle.  It  is 
admirably  adapted  for  its  purpose,  being  written  in  the 
simplest  of  simple  language.  Its  circulation  was  enormous. 
It  passed  through  twenty-five  editions  before  the  close  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  Granger  tells  us  that '  it  had  been 
oftener  printed  than  any  other  tract  of  practical  divinity,' 
and  that  '  one  clergyman  at  Beading  had  distributed  near 
ten  thousand  copies,  chiefly  among  soldiers.'  Bawlet  wrote 
several  other  devotional  works,  but  none  of  these  require 
special  notice. 

While  Scott's  '  Christian  Life,'  and  Bawlet's  '  Christian 
Monitor,'  are  almost  forgotten,  a  work  which  is  infinitely 
inferior  to  both,  but  especially  the  former,  is  still  well 
known  and  sometimes  read.  Beveridge's  Private  Thoughts 
really  consists  of  two  works,  written  at  different  times ; 
but  they  are  now  generally  published  together  as  two  parts 
of  the  same  work.  The  first  is  entitled  in  full,  '  Private 
Thoughts  upon  Beligion,  in  twelve  articles,  with  practical 
resolutions  grounded  thereupon ; '  it  was  written  when  the 
author  was  only  twenty-three  years  of  age,  and  was  intended 
simply  for  his  own  satisfaction  and  establishment  in  the 
Christian  faith.  The  second  is  called  'Private  Thoughts 
upon  a  Christian  Life.'  Both,  but  especially  the  former, 
bear  evident  traces  of  having  been  written  by  a  very  young 
man.  There  is  a  positiveness  about  all  things  human  and 
divine,  an  airy  way  of  settling  the  most  difficult  questions, 
which  is  characteristic  of  youthful  enthusiasm  before  it  is 
toned  down  by  age  and  experience ;  but  it  should  be  added 
that  there  is  the  freshness  as  well  as  the  rawness  of  youth 
about  the  work ;  and  this,  together  with  the  evident 
earnestness  and  reality  of  the  writer,  may  have  tended 
to  keep  it  alive.  Indeed  it  is  the  best  known  of  all 
Beveridge's  writings,  and  the  author  has  suffered  in  conse- 


DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL    WORKS  275 

quence  ;  for  those  who  depreciate  Beveridge  as  a  writer  (and 
they  are  many)  are  probably  thinking  especially  of  this,  his 
juvenile  effort.  This  is  rather  hard  upon  this  really  good 
writer,  because  neither  part  of  the  '  Private  Thoughts '  was 
published  until  after  his  death  ;  and  it  is  doubtful  whether 
he  ever  intended  to  give  them  to  the  world. 

Bishop  Patrick's  sacramental  treatises  have  been  noticed, 
but  these  by  no  means  exhaust  the  list  of  his  practical 
works.  His  Discourse  concerning  Prayer  (1686)  quite 
accords  with  the  spirit  of  the  times  in  urging  the  daily 
service  of  the  Church  as  of  greater  obligation  and  efficacy 
than  family,  or  even  private  prayer.  It  was  reprinted 
in  1840  under  the  editorship  of  the  Kev.  F.  Paget.  The 
editor  calls  it  an  appropriate  companion  to  Patrick's 
Treatise  of  Repentance  and  Fasting  (1686)  ;  and  rightly 
describes  both  as  '  characterised  by  the  same  dutiful  love 
to  the  Church,  and  the  same  desire  to  inculcate  a  strict 
obedience  to  her  ordinances,'  and  as  '  designed  to  lead 
men  to  the  "  old  paths  "  of  Catholic  truth  and  Scriptural 
antiquity.' l  Patrick's  Work  of  the  Ministry  represented  to 
the  Clergy  of  Ely  (1698),  also  re-edited  in  1841  by  W.  B. 
Hawkins,  is  particularly  interesting  as  giving  the  experience 
of  a  veteran  in  ministerial  work  who  had  been  one  of  the 
most  successful  clergymen  of  his  day.  The  Devout  Chris 
tian  instructed  how  to  pray,  is  simply  a  book  of  family 
prayers,  with  privaie  prayers  for  almost  every  conceivable 
occasion  appended,  and  does  not  require  much  notice ;  but 
the  Advice  to  a  Friend,  published  under  the  initials  '  S.P.' 
in  1673,  is  a  singularly  beautiful  tract  in  Patrick's  early 
style,  before  his  Platonic  tincture  had  worn  off,  and  is 
really  worthy  of  being  bound  up,  as  it  has  been,  with  Jeremy 
Taylor's  *  Contemplations  of  the  State  of  Man  in  this  Life 
and  in  that  which  is  to  come.'  '2  But  perhaps  the  most 

1  Paget's  preface  to  Discourse  concerning  Prayer. 

2  They  are   bound   together   in   one  volume   in   Pickering's    Christian 
Classics,  18-47. 

T  2 


276        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

notable  of  all  Patrick's  practical  works  is  The  Parable  of 
the  Pilgrim,  the  idea  of  which  is  exactly  the  same  as  that 
of  '  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress,'  only  of  course  it  is  con 
ceived  and  worked  out  from  a  churchman's  point  of  view. 
But  for  the  fortunate  insertion  of  the  date  '  1663  '  in  the 
original  letter  to  the  friend  to  whom  it  was  written,  it  might 
have  been  suspected  that  the  rector  and  future  bishop  had 
condescended  to  borrow  from  the  tinker ;  for  the  work  was 
not  published  until  1668,  by  which  time  the  'Pilgrim's 
Progress  '  had  probably  appeared.  But  there  is  no  need 
for  supposing  that  either  Patrick  borrowed  from  Bunyan 
or  Bunyan  from  Patrick.  The  idea  is  sufficiently  obvious 
to  have  occurred  spontaneously  to  both.  It  must  be  ad 
mitted  that  the  unlettered  Bunyan  is  far  more  successful 
than  the  lettered  Patrick.  The  latter  makes  the  fatal  mis 
take  (for  an  allegorist)  of  giving  us  all  moral  and  very  little 
story.  He  also  confuses  the  allegory  with  the  application, 
and,  truth  to  tell,  is  utterly  deficient  in  fancy.1  One  can  as 
little  wonder  that  Patrick's  'Pilgrim'  is,  from  a  literary 
point  of  view,  dead,  as  that  Bunyan's  is  alive,  and  likely  to 
live  as  long  as  the  world  lasts.  And  yet  Patrick  had  some 
of  the  elements  of  successful  writing  in  this  department. 
His  style  is  quaint,  easy,  and  clear,  and  his  mode  of  telling 
his  story  is  very  pleasing. 

Among  the  devotional  works  of  our  period,  a  con 
spicuous  place  belongs  to  reprints  of  earlier  works  which 
had,  of  course,  found  no  favour  during  the  Eebellion,  but 
now  came  into  demand  again.  To  this  class  belong  many 
of  Jeremy  Taylor's  works,  and  also  the  exquisitely  beautiful 
'  Contemplations  '  of  Bishop  Joseph  Hall.  George  Herbert's 
'  Country  Parson  '  re-appeared  in  1675  with  a  most  inte 
resting  preface  by  Barnabas  Oley.  Oley,  indeed,  had  been 

1  The  defects  are  pointed  out  with  a  kindly  hand  by  Thomas  Scott  in 
his  '  Introductory  Essay '  to  his  edition  of  the  Pilgrim's  Progress  (1828), 
p.  xviii.,  &c.,  where  the  writer  also  discusses  the  question  of  the  dates  of  the 
two  works. 


DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL    WORKS  277 

brave  enough  to  write  a  preface  to  the  edition  which  was 
put  forth  in  1652,  when  the  sentiments  must  have  been 
odious  to  the  dominant  party.  But  his  later  preface  is 
peculiarly  interesting  as  illustrating  the  immense  value 
which  was  set  upon  the  immortal  picture  by  the  clergy 
of  the  time.1  Bishop  Cosin's  Devotions  falls  under  the 
same  category,  for  though  the  writer  survived  the  Restora- 
tion  several  years,  it  was  originally  published  in  1627,  and 
during  the  Rebellion  met  not  only  with  neglect  but  vitupe 
ration.  Its  author's  name  afforded  scope  for  a  vile  pun  ; 
it  was  called  'cozening  devotions,'  and  was  accused  of 
cheating  the  devout  reader  out  of  the  truth.  But  after  the 
Restoration  it  was  widely  read.2  Bishop  Brian  Duppa's 
Holy  Hides  and  Helps  to  Devotion  is  another  book  of  the 
same  sort,  but  it  does  not  appear  to  have  been  so  popular 
after  the  Restoration  as  any  of  the  above  mentioned,  for  it 
did  not  reach  a  second  edition  until  1818.  It  is  a  plain, 
and  very  spiritual  little  work,  full  of  Latin  quotations,  and 
contains  some  good  prayers,  and  questions  for  self-examina 
tion.  Christian  Consolations  really  belongs  to  the  same 
class ;  for,  though  it  was  not  published  until  1671,  it  was 
written  many  years  earlier.  Bishop  Heber  attributes  it  to 
Jeremy  Taylor,  but  Alexander  Knox  plainly  shews  that  this 
is  wrong.  The  writer  was  probably  Bishop  Hacket ;  it  is 
boldly  attributed  to  the  latter  in  the  new  edition  which 
appeared  in  1840.  The  book  is  written  in  the  quaint  style 
of  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century;  it  is  purely 
practical,  but  has  a  more  decidedly  Church  tone  than 
Bishop  Duppa's  work.  Broadly  speaking,  we  may  place 
Sir  Thomas  Browne's  Religio  Medici  among  the  reprinted 
practical  works  of  the  Restoration  period.  How  far  Sir  T. 

1  '  All  the  clergie  of  mine  acquaintance,  and,  I  verily  believe,  all  the  old 
clergie  of  the  nation,  as  well  as  my  poor  self,  do  long  to  see  ourselves  and 
our  younger  brethren  conform  to  that  idea  of  a  clerk  which  the  noble,  holy 
Herbert  hath  pourtraied  in  this  book.' 

2  See  Vita  Joannis  Cosini,  by  T.  Smith,  p.  8.    Also  Granville's  Remains, 
pp.  ii.,  65,  6. 


278        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Browne  may  be  regarded  as  a  churchman  has  been  seen 
in  the  sketch  of  his  life.1  At  any  rate  the  work,  found 
favour  among  churchmen,  and  disfavour  among  the  puri 
tans;  for  it  was  written  in  1633-5,  passed  into  neglect 
during  the  Eebellion,  and  became  extraordinarily  popular 
after  the  Restoration  ;  at  least  if  imitation  be  the  best  test 
of  popularity  as  well  as  the  sincerest  form  of  flattery.2 
Another  reprint  which  found  favour  was  Bishop  An- 
drewes's  Devotions.  They  were  re-translated  out  of  the 
original  Greek  and  Latin 3  and  published  by  Dean  Stan 
hope  in  1675,  and  the  original  translation  of  1648  by 
'  R.D.'  [Richard  Drake]  was  republished  in  1692.  They 
are  too  well-known  to  require  notice. 

To  return  to  the  works  which  were  actually  written 
during  our  period.  Dr.  Richard  Lucas  was  as  eminent  for 
his  devotional  writings  as  for  his  preaching.  His  Prac 
tical  Christianity,  or  an  Account  of  the  Holiness  which 
the  Gospel  enjoins,  is  a  plain,  earnest  work,  in  which  all 
controversial  topics  are  carefully  avoided.  The  reason  given 
for  their  avoidance  is  the  converse  of  that  usually  given ;  it 
was  not  that  he  thought,  as  Nelson,  for  instance,  thought, 
that  the  love  of  controversy  drew  men  away  from  practical 
religion,  but  that  the  want  of  practical  religion  betrayed 
men  into  the  errors  which  provoked  controversy.  Feeling 
that  '  no  kind  of  discourses  contribute  more  to  the  peace 
and  welfare  of  Church  and  State  than  those  practical  ones 
which  aim  at  implanting  real  goodness  in  the  minds  of 

1  See  supra,  p.  177. 

2  These  are  some  of  the  imitations  -at  least  of  the  title :  De  Religione 
Gentilium,  1663  ;  Religio  Stoici,  1665  ;  Religio  Clerid,  1681 ;  Religio  Laid 
(Dryden),  1682;    Religio   Laid    (Blount) ;  Religio   Jurisprudentis,    1685; 
Religio   Militis,  1690 ;    Religio  Bibliopole,  1694 ;    Religion  of  a   Prince, 
1704 ;  Religion  of  a  Gentleman,  1710.     It  is  fair  to  say  that  two  of  the 
imitations   appeared   before   the   Kestoration :  De   Religione   Laid   (Lord 
Herbert),  1645;  Religio  Jurisconsulti,  1649. 

3  The  first  part  was  originally  in  Greek,  the  second   in  Latin.     The 
Manual  of  devotion  for  the  sick  was  in  Greek ;  large  portions  of  the  Greek 
were  transcriptions  from  Liturgies  of  the  Eastern  Church. 


DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL    WORKS  279 

men,'  he  keeps  this  object  steadily  in  view,  and  shews  (1) 
'  the  necessity  of  being  religious,'  (2)  '  the  motives  which 
the  Gospel  proposes  to  Holiness,'  (3)  '  the  temptations  to 
sin,  and  their  remedies,'  (4)  '  the  three  general  instruments 
of  holiness,  or  preservatives  against  sin,'  these  being  Sacra 
ments,  prayers,  and  fastings.  The  whole  subject  is  system 
atically  worked  out  in  very  well-written  language. 

Another  little  work  of  Dr.  Lucas'  is  called  Christian 
Thoughts  for  every  day  of  the  Month,  which  gives  first  the 
thought  (e.g.  for  the  first  day  '  Of  faith'),  then  the  applica 
tion,  then  two  sentences,  one  from  the  Bible,  another  from 
a  Christian  Father.  Divine  Breathings  of  a  Pious  Soul 
thirsting  after  Christ,  in  a  Hundred  Pathetical  Meditations, 
is  attributed  to  Dr.  Lucas  ;  but  if  it  be  his,  it  is  singularly 
unlike  his  acknowledged  writings,  being  ornate  and  rap 
turous,  while  they  are  particularly  plain  and  calm.1 

But  a  far  more  interesting  and  finished  work  than  any 
of  the  above  is  Dr.  Lucas'  last  composition,  An  Enquiry 
after  Happiness.  The  circumstances  of  its  composition 
lend  a  peculiarly  melancholy  interest  to  it.  They  cannot 
be  better  stated  than  in  the  writer's  own  touching  words 
'  To  the  Keader  ' :— <  It  has  pleased  God  that  in  a  few  years 
I  should  finish  the  more  pleasant  and  delightful  part  of 
life,  if  sense  were  to  be  the  judge  and  standard  of  pleasure ; 
being  confined  (I  will  not  say  condemned,)  by  well-nigh 
utter  blindness,  to  retirement  and  solitude.  I  thought  it 
my  duty  to  set  myself  some  task  which  might  serve  at  once 
to  divert  my  thoughts  from  a  melancholy  application  on 
my  misfortune,  and  might  be  serviceable  to  the  world. 
Like  one  that  truly  loves  his  country,  when  no  way  else 

1  All  the  three  works  are  bound  together  in  a  single  volume,  in  the 
edition  of  1746  (the  7th) ;  but  the  last  with  a  separate  pagination.  It  is 
published  anonymously  but  signed  •  Christopher  Perin,  who  gave  them  [The 
Divine  Breathings']  as  being  found  among  the  writings  of  an  eminent 
divine.'  How  the  eminent  divine  was  identified  with  Dr.  Lucas  is  not 
shewn,  but  in  the  title  to  the  whole  volume  it  is  boldly  said  that  the 
Breathings  are  by  the  same  author  as  Practical  Christianity,  which  was 
beyond  question  the  composition  of  Dr.  Lucas. 


280        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

is  left  him,  he  fights  upon  his  stumps ;  so  will  I  ever,  in 
the  remains  of  a  broken  body,  express,  at  least,  my  affection 
for  mankind,  and  breathe  out  my  last  gasp  in  their  service.' 
The  good  man's  labours  in  the  midst  of  his  infirmity  were 
not  in  vain.  His  book  is  an  exceedingly  well-written  book, 
full  of  plain  truth  plainly  stated  in  an  easy,  scholarly  style. 
It  is  conspicuous  as  much  for  its  marked  good  sense  as  for 
its  earnestness.  It  takes  three  different  kinds  of  life,  (1) 
the  gentleman's,  (2)  the  tradesman's,  (3)  the  contemplative, 
and  shows  how  religion  can  give  happiness  in  each ;  it  then 
dwells  on  '  the  ways  of  prolonging  life,  viz.  (1)  by  cheerful 
ness,  (2)  by  asking  God  to  do  so.'  The  second  volume, 
which  seems  originally  to  have  been  a  separate  publication, 
is  entitled  '  Keligious  Perfection,'  and  it  is  particularly 
refreshing  to  those  who  have  studied  the  fierce  but  very 
feeble  controversies  which  raged  some  years  later  respecting 
*  perfection,'  'assurance,'  'final  perseverance,'  &c.,  to  turn 
to  a  work  which  was  written  before  these  painful  disputes 
broke  out,  and  which  deals  with  its  subject  in  a  less  pre 
tentious  but  more  satisfactory  way.  We  can  well  under 
stand  how  the  whole  work  should  be  admired  (as  it  was)  by 
such  competent  judges  as  Dean  Stanhope,  Alexander  Knox, 
and  Bishop  Jebb. 

In  the  interesting  correspondence  between  the  two  last- 
named  eminent  men,  several  other  devotional  works  of  our 
period  are  highly  commended.  Scougal's  Life  of  God  in 
the  Soul  of  Man,  is  said  by  Mr.  Knox  to  *  contain  perhaps 
the  finest  view  of  practical  religion,  the  most  removed  from 
coldness  on  the  one  hand  and  overheat  on  the  other,  that 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Christian  world.' *  The  reader  who  is 
first  introduced  to  the  work  with  such  a  flourish  of  trumpets 
will  probably  feel  a  little  disappointment  when  he  reads  it. 

1  See  a  letter  from  Knox  to  Jebb  (1801),  quoted  in  Bishop  Jebb's  Intro 
duction  to  his  edition  of  Bishop  Burnet's  Lives,  Characters,  and  an  Address 
to  Posterity  (1833),  p.  xxii.  The  work  is  also  recommended  by  Susanna 
"Wesley  to  her  son  John. 


DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL   WORKS  28 1 

Not  but  what  it  is  a  well- written,  well  argued-out  piece,  but 
it  bears  evident  traces  of  having  been  written,  as  it  was,  by 
a  very  young  man ; l  and  devotional  works,  of  all  works, 
require  the  experience  which  nothing  but  age  can  bring. 
Bishop  Burnet's  Conclusion  to  the  History  of  Us  Own  Times 
is  also  recommended  by  Mr.  Knox  as  '  containing  in  a  small 
compass  as  fine  a  view  of  Christianity  as  almost  ever  was 
composed,'2  and  Jebb  to  whom  the  recommendation  was 
given,  quite  endorses   it,  declaring  that   '  Bishop  Burnet's 
short  but  exquisite  conclusion  to  his  "  Address  to  Posterity  " 
can  never  be  antiquated.     So  long  as  the  English  language 
lasts,  it  will  be  read  and  re-read  with  fresh  improvement 
and  delight.' 3     It  is  fully  admitted  that  there  is  much  that 
is  earnest  and  excellent  in  the  practical  writings  of  Burnet, 
which  are  infinitely  more  valuable  than  his  History,  but 
even  these   are   defaced  by  that   unfortunate  propensity, 
which  amounted  in  Burnet  almost  to  a  mania,  of  depre 
ciating  his  brother  clergy.     Nothing  of  this  kind  can  be  ob 
jected  to  the  next  two  writers  whom  Mr.  Knox  commends. 
He  does  not  exaggerate  when  he  declares  that  '  Archbishop 
Leighton's  writings,  in  sublime  piety,  and  often  in  genuine 
strokes  of  natural  but  most  exalted  eloquence,  are  not  ex 
celled  but  by  the  sacred  writers  ; '  but  they  scarcely  fall  under 
the  category  of  what  is  popularly  meant  by  devotional  works. 
So  far  from  exaggerating,  he  might  have  praised  even  more 
highly  than  he  does,  Worthington's  Great  Duty  of  Self-Re 
signation  to  the  Divine  Will,  a  perfect  little  gem  of  twelve 
pages,  which  for  beauty  both  of  thought  and  language,  is 
equal  to  the  best  of  the  Platonists'  writings.    Though  it  now 
appears  in  the  form  of  a  single  devotional  work,  it  is  really 
the  substance  of  several  sermons  preached  for  the  most  part 
at  S.  Bennet  Fink's ;  one  of  the  most  striking  of  these,  that 
on  the  resignation  of  Job,  was  preached  there  on  the  very 

1  Scougal  was  a  Scotch  Episcopalian  clergyman,  who  died  in  1675,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-eight. 

2  Introduction  Jpl  supra),  p.  xxi.  3  Id.  p.  ii- 


282        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Sunday  when  the  Great  Fire  broke  out  which  laid  both  the 
church  and  parish  of  S.  Bennet  Fink  in  ashes.1 

Several  other  devotional  works  of  the  period  were  origi 
nally  sermons.  Such  were  several  of  Bishop  Patrick's  works 
already  noticed.  Such  was  Mr.  Smythies'  Benefit  of  Early 
Piety,  recommended  to  all  young  Persons.  It  is  addressed 
chiefly  to  young  men,  and  one  reads  it  with  special  interest 
owing  to  the  extraordinary  success  which  the  author  met 
with  in  dealing  with  this  most  important  class.  Like  all 
Mr.  Smythies'  writings,  it  takes  rather  a  severe  view,  but  it 
is  eminently  practical  and  good,  and  became  so  popular 
that  it  reached  a  fifteenth  edition  in  1729.  Such  was 
Dr.  Horneck's  Happy  Ascetick,  a  singularly  powerful 
appeal  in  behalf  of  a  Christian  life,  which  one  also  reads 
with  peculiar  interest  owing  to  the  peculiar  success  of 
the  author  in  dealing  with  souls.  Such  too  was  Bishop 
Gunning's  Paschal  or  Lenten  Fast,  which  is  a  sermon 
preached  before  King  Charles  II.,  with  enlargements. 

We  have  touched  upon  the  devotional  work  of  one 
Platonist ;  let  us  turn  to  another,  a  far  more  voluminous 
writer,  of  the  same  school.  Norris  of  Bemerton  almost  rivals 
Patrick  in  the  number  of  works,  all  more  or  less  practical, 
which  he  put  forth.  All,  judging  from  the  number  of 
editions  through  which  they  passed,  were  popular  in  their 
day ;  but  it  must  suffice  here  to  notice  the  most  famous. 
His  Letters  concerning  the  Love  of  God,  '  a  correspondence 
between  himself  and  a  gentlewoman  '  [Mrs.  Astell],  are  inte 
resting  as  representing  in  miniature  the  famous  controversy 
between  Fenelon  and  Bossuet.  And  though  the  gentleman 
is  not  a  Fenelon  nor  the  lady  a  Bossuet,  the  letters  are 
well  worth  reading.  Norris  is  a  worshipper  of  Malebranche, 
and  presents  the  great  French  idealist's  thoughts  on  '  pure, 
disinterested  love  '  in  an  English  dress,  but  it  must  be  con 
fessed  that  the  comparison  is  not  in  favour  of  our  own 

1  See  the  Preface  to  the  Great  Duty,  c£c.,  signed  '  E.  F.,'  that  is,  no 
doubt,  Edward  Fowler,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Gloucester. 


DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL    WORKS  283 

countryman.     He  had  previously  (1689)  addressed  a  letter 
to  another  lady,  'the  excellent  lady,  the  Lady  Masham,' 
which  is  practically  a  devotional  work,  and  a  very  good  one. 
It  is  entitled  Reflections  upon  the   Conduct  of  Human  Life, 
in  which  he  argues,  after  the  manner  of  his  master,  against 
the  too  great  love  of  human  learning,  and  advises   '  the 
renunciation  of  all   studies    merely   curious,'    fearing,    no 
doubt,  that  '  the  excellent  lady's  '  connection  with  two  such 
master   minds    as  Cudworth  and   Locke  would   lead   her 
to  value  intellect  too  highly.      In  1702  Norris  published 
a  treatise    On   Religious  Discourse   in    Common    Conversa 
tion,  in  which  he  argues  in  an  earnest,  sensible  manner 
against  the  avoidance  of  religious  conversation  for  practical 
and  not  controversial  purposes,  even  among  good  people. 
But   perhaps  the  most  striking  of  all  his  works   is   that 
entitled  Reason  and  Religion,  or  'Grounds  and  Measures  of 
Devotion  considered  from  the  nature  of  God  and  the  nature 
of  Man,  in  several  Contemplations,  with  exercises  of  Devo 
tion  apply'd  to  every  Contemplation.'     He  tells  us  in  the 
preface  that  it  was  '  intended  for  the  pious  entertainment  of 
more  refined  and  elevated  understandings,  so  many  ex 
cellent  works  having  been  written  lately  for  the  use  of  the 
ordinary   and   unlearned.'     He   certainly   knew   his    own 
powers  when  he  addressed  himself  to  the  more  educated  ; 
for,  like  all  the  Platonists,  his  thoughts  were  too    subtle 
and  his  language  too  refined  for  the  multitude.     His  mind 
was  elegant  rather  than  strong  ;  but  more  conspicuous  even 
than  his  elegance  is  the  deep  vein  of  earnest  piety  which 
runs  through  all  his  writings.1 

Most  of  the  writers  hitherto  mentioned  have  been  clergy  - 

1  They  fill  no  less  than  thirteen  8vo.  volumes.  Among  his  other  practical 
works  are  (1)  A  Discourse  concerning  Worldly  and  Divine  Wisdom  ;  (2) 
The  Importance  of  a  Religious  Life  considered  from  the  happy  Conclusion 
of  it ;  (3)  Religious  Singularity  displayed :  shelving  the  Necessity  of 
Practising  that  great  Christian  Virtue  ;  (4)  Practical  Treatise  concerning 
Humility ;  (5)  Treatise  concerning  Christian  Prudence ;  (6)  Account  of 
Reason  and  Faith. 


284        LIFE.  IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

men ;  but  it  has  been  seen  that  the  part  which  laymen 
took  in  the  Church  life  of  the  time  was  large,  and  some  of 
the  best  practical  works  come  from  the  pens  of  the  laity. 
In  the  very  year  of  the  Kestoration,  Kobert  Boyle  published 
Some  Motives  and  Incentives  to  the  Love  of  God,  pathe 
tically  described  in  a  Letter  to  a  Friend,  which  passed 
through  many  editions  and  was  translated  into  Latin.  In 
1690  the  same  pious  layman  published  The  Christian 
Virtuoso,  shewing  that  by  being  addicted  to  experimental 
philosophy  a  man  is  rather  assisted  than  indisposed  to 
be  a  good  Christian, — a  seasonable  work  calculated  to 
dispel  the  foolish  prejudices  which  some  had  conceived 
against  the  Eoyal  Society  on  the  ground  that  it  tended  to 
irreligion  or  popery.  The  Practice  of  Piety  was  another 
practical  work  written  by  Boyle. 

If  circulation  be  a  test  of  merit,  few  practical  works 
rank  higher  than  The  Great  Importance  of  a  Religious 
Life,  by  the  pious  lawyer,  William  Melmoth.  It  was  first 
published  in  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  before  the  century  closed  had  passed  through  twenty- 
eight  editions.  Its  latest  edition  (1849)  affirms  that  no 
less  than  150,000  copies  were  sold  in  the  first  forty  years 
of  the  present  century.  The  work  itself  hardly  seems  to 
account  for  this  extraordinary  demand.  It  is  simply  a 
plain,  sensible  appeal  in  behalf  of  a  religious  life,  written, 
as  one  would  expect  from  a  lawyer,  in  an  argumentative 
style.  Its  theology  is  that  of  Tillotson,  whom  the  author 
frequently  quotes  with  approbation. 

Strictly  speaking,  perhaps  one  ought  not  to  reckon  the 
great  judge,  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  among  the  devotional  writers 
of  the  period,  because  his  Contemplations  were  designed 
solely  for  his  own  use,  and  were  never  intended  to  be  pub 
lished.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact,  this  posthumous  work  is 
one  of  the  most  touching  devotional  works  of  the  time.  The 
*  Tractate  on  Afflictions  and  True  Wisdom  '  and  that '  On  Hu 
mility,'  in  especial,  have  hardly  been  surpassed  by  any  writer. 


DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL    WORKS  285 

Nor  must  we  forget  to  notice  the  great  names  of  Joseph 
Addison  and  Eichard  Steele  among  the  laymen  who  wrote 
on  practical  religion.  Those,  however,  who  are  only  ac 
quainted  with  their  exquisite  '  Saturday  papers '  in  the 
'  Spectator,'  which  in  one  sense  must  certainly  be  accounted 
as  devotional  pieces  of  a  very  high  order,  will  be  sadly  dis 
appointed  when  they  turn  to  the  works  of  the  same  writers 
on  exclusively  religious  topics.  Two  more  trite  and  vapid 
treatises  than  Steele's  Christian  Hero,  and  Addison' s 
Evidences  of  Christianity,  were  never  written.  The  latter 
was  composed  when  Addison  was  failing,  and  Tickell  tells 
us  he  '  was  more  assiduous  than  his  health  could  well  allow.' 
If  the  loss  of  a  valuable  life  was  hastened  for  so  unsatis 
factory  a  result,  it  is  all  the  more  provoking,  but  the  fact 
is,  both  Steele  and  Addison  mistook  their  vocation  when  they 
attempted  this  kind  of  work. 

The  most  famous  and  useful  of  all  the  lay  writers  on 
practical  subjects  was  Eobert  Nelson.  It  is  hardly  necessary 
to  describe  his  Festivals  and  Fasts,  with  which  everybody 
is,  or  ought  to  be,  familiar,  and  which  has  never  been 
superseded  by  any  other  work  of  the  kind.  Equally  ex 
cellent  in  its  way  is  his  Practice  of  True  Devotion,  which 
was  written  because  the  author  thought  the  prevalence  of 
religious  controversies  drew  men  away  from  '  the  solid  and 
substantial  part  of  religion,  the  spirit  and  life  of  devotion.' 
The  good  man,  therefore,  treats  his  subjects  entirely  from  a 
practical  point  of  view,  carefully  avoiding  all  controversy. 
His  Address  to  Persons  of  Quality,  and  his  Representation 
of  the  Ways  and  Means  of  Doing  Good,  which  is  a  sort  of 
supplement  to  it,  are  two  of  the  most  stirring  and  sensible 
addresses  ever  published,  and  doubtless  contributed  in  no 
slight  degree  to  help  on  the  many  charitable  and  religious 
enterprises  which  adorned  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne  quite  as 
much  as  the  literary  masterpieces  and  military  successes 
which  shed  a  lustre  upon  that  era.  The  merits  of  Nelson 
as  a  writer  are  not  due  to  any  particular  genius,  but  simply 


286        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

to  his  thorough  reality,  his  earnest  piety,  and  his  plain, 
practical  common  sense.  The  works  thoroughly  reflect  the 
character  of  the  man,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  they  will 
never  pass  into  oblivion  so  long  as  true  religion  of  the  true 
Church  of  England  tjpe  is  valued  by  Englishmen.1 

It  was  not  the  fashion  of  the  day  for  ladies  to  appear  in 
print.  But  several  devotional  works  published  anonymously 
are  known  to  have  been  written  by  ladies.  Susanna  Hopton 
was  one.  Three  of  her  works  were  edited  by  Nathaniel 
Spinckes,  under  the  title  of  A  Collection  of  Meditations,  in 
Three  Parts.  They  were  originally  all  published  separately, 
and  consist  of — (1)  A  Hexameron,  or  'Meditations  on  the 
six  days  of  Creation.'  (2)  Meditations  or  Devotions  on 
the  Life  of  Jesus  Christ.  (3)  Daily  Devotions  and  Thanks 
givings,  which  first  came  out  in  1673,  '  by  a  humble  peni 
tent.'  But  the  most  notable  of  her  works  is  Devotions  in 
the  ancient  way  of  Offices,  with  psalms,  hymns,  and  prayers 
for  every  day  of  the  week,  and  every  Holiday  in  the  year. 
It  was  published  in  1701  by  Dr.  Hickes,  who  tells  us  that 
*  it  had  four  editions  unreformed  from  Koman  Catholics, 
five  as  it  was  reformed  by  Dorrington,  while  this  is  a  second 
in  a  new  reform.' 

Mary  Astell's  anonymous  practical  works  were  much 
admired.  Her  Christian  Religion  as  professed  by  a, 
daughter  of  the  Church  of  England  (1705),  is  exactly  de 
scribed  by  its  title.  It  is  a  book  of  the  old-fashioned  Church 
type,  advocating  strongly,  but  temperately,  all  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church,  including  non-resistance,  and  is  very  em 
phatic  against  Eomanism.  Her  Serious  Proposal  to  Ladies 
has  been  noticed  in  the  sketch  of  her  life  ;  and  the  Letters 
concerning  the  Love  of  God  have  been  mentioned  in  the 
account  of  her  correspondent  John  Norris'  works.  They 
are  full  of  pertinent  inquiries,  showing  that  the  writer  must 
certainly  have  been  a  very  intelligent  lady ;  but  they  are 

1  An  excellent  account  of  all  his  works  will  be  found  in  Secretan's  Life 
of  Nelson.     His  sacramental  treatises  have  already  been  noticed. 


DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL   WORKS  287 

not  quite  so  extraordinary  productions  as  her  enthusias 
tically  admiring  antagonist  would  have  us  believe.1 

Elizabeth  Burnet,  third  wife  of  the  Bishop  of  Sarum,  was 
the  author  of  one  devotional  work  which  is  well  worthy  of 
notice.  It  is  entitled,  A  Method  of  Devotion,  or  Rules  of 
Holy  and  Devout  Living.  As  one  would  expect  from  the 
wife  of  Bishop  Burnet,  she  writes  from  a  Low  Church  point 
of  view  ;  but  as  one  would  not  expect  from  that  relationship, 
she  writes  with  the  most  unaffected  diffidence.  The  Method 
'  was  put  together  for  private  use,  and  is  very  defective  from 
the  low  capacity  of  its  compiler,  and  was  published  to  excite 
such  as  are  better  qualified  to  do  something  more  perfect  of 
this  sort,  and  in  the  meantime  to  give  a  little  assistance  to 
young  and  ignorant  persons.'  Strange  language  from  a 
Mrs.  Burnet !  and  quite  an  unnecessary  apology  for  her 
publication.  The  book  is  an  excellent  one ;  full  of  plain, 
practical  rules,  those  on  the  employment  of  time  being 
particularly  good.  It  was  intended  for  the  writer's  own  sex, 
and  two  of  the  meditations  in  especial — one  '  for  the  Beau 
tiful,'  the  other  *  for  the  Deformed,'  are  most  interesting. 
The  whole  work  strikes  one  as  being  remarkably  real  and 
natural,  and  gives  a  most  favourable  impression  of  the 
writer.  After  her  death  '  it  was  thought  fit,'  says  the  editor, 
Archdeacon  Goodwyn, '  to  put  the  name  of  the  author,  which 
her  modesty  did  not  suffer  her  to  consent  to  while  she 
lived.' 

Another  lady  who  wrote  on  devotional  subjects  was 
Damaris,  Lady  Masham,  the  daughter  of  Cudworth  and  friend 
of  Locke.  In  1696  she  published  A  Discourse  concerning 
the  Love  of  God,  which  she  probably  wrote  under  the  in 
spiration  of  Locke,  and  which  took  the  opposite  view  from 

1  '  Madam,'  he  writes,  '  I  should  never  be  able  to  express  the  value  I  set 
upon  your  letters,  either  as  to  their  ingenuity  or  their  piety.  The  former 
of  which  might  make  them  an  entertainment  for  an  angel,  and  the  latter 
sufficient  (if  possible)  to  make  a  saint  of  the  blackest  devil ; '  with  much 
more  in  the  same  extravagant  style. 


288        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

that  of  John  Norris.  In  1705  she  published  another  devotional 
work,  entitled  Occasional  Thoughts  in  reference  to  a  Virtuous 
and  Christian  Life, — both  anonymously. 

Devotional  works  specially  intended  for  clergymen  were 
not  very  numerous  during  our  period.  Burnet's  '  Pastoral 
Care,'  and  Herbert's  'Country  Parson,'  of  course  fall  under 
this  head.  The  only  other  two  that  need  be  noticed  are 
Nathaniel  Spinckes'  Sick  Man  Visited,  and  Samuel  Wesley's 
Advice  to  a  young  Clergyman.  The  former  is  in  the  form  of  a 
dialogue,  and  describes  six  visits  from  the  minister  to  his 
sick  parishioner,  followed  by  some  meditations,  and  no  less 
than  sixty-three  prayers,  '  proper  for  the  use  of  the  sick  on 
different  occasions,' — the  whole  work  being  written  in  a  very 
touching  and  homely  style.  The  latter  was  addressed  by 
Mr.  Wesley  to  his  curate  at  Epworth,  and  gives  advice  as 
to  the  conduct  of  Church  service,  parish  work,  books  for 
private  reading,  which  any  young  clergyman  might  study 
with  advantage  in  the  present  day. 

If  this  professed  to  be  an  exhaustive  account  of  devo 
tional  works,  several  others  would  require  notice.  '  The 
Poor  Man's  Help  and  Young  Man's  Guide,'  by  William 
Burkitt,  the  excellent  incumbent  of  Dedham ;  '  The  Eich 
Man's  Duty  to  contribute  to  the  Building  of  Churches,'  by 
Dr.  Wells,  rector  of  Cottesback,  which  has  been  republished 
at  Oxford  with  a  preface  or  advertisement  by  J.  H.  N. ; 
'  The  Duties  of  the  Closet,'  by  Sir  William  Dawes,  a  mar 
vellous-  performance  considering  that  the  author  was  only 
twenty-one  years  of  age  when  he  wrote  it ;  '  Fair  Warnings 
to  a  Careless  World,'  by  Dr.  Josiah  Woodward;  '  A  Discourse 
concerning  Lent,'  by  George  Hooper,  afterwards  Bishop  of 
Bath  and  Wells ;  and  perhaps  also  those  biographies  which 
were  plainly  written  for  a  practical  object,  such  as  Bishop 
Burnet's  Lives  of  Justice  Hale,  John,  Earl  of  Eochester, 
and  Eobert  Boyle,  and  many  others,  would  demand  atten 
tion.  But  as  this  only  professes  to  be  a  typical  sketch,  it 
must  suffice  to  add  a  few  words  on  a  form  of  literature  in 


DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL    WORKS  289 

which  devotional  writers  frequently  express  their  thoughts, 
viz.  Sacred  Poetry. 

A  few  words  will  be  all  that  is  required ;  for,  to  say  the 
truth,  sacred  poetry  did  not  rise  to  a  high  level  during  our 
period.  Even  from  those  from  whom  great  things  might 
be  expected,  great  things  have  not  come.  For  example, 
whose  expectations  would  not  be  raised  high,  if  they  heard 
for  the  first  time  of  four  volumes  of  '  Poems  Devotional  and 
Didactic  '  by  the  writer  of  the  immortal  Morning,  Evening, 
and  Midnight  Hymns  ?  But  such  expectations  would  be 
doomed  to  disappointment.  Abstract  the  dross,  and  the 
residuum  of  true  poetry  in  Bishop  Ken's  four  volumes  would 
shrink  to  a  very  small  compass.  They  were  published  post 
humously,  and  the  sanguine  editor  hopes  that  '  while  it  is 
found  valuable  as  a  collection  of  sacred  poetry,  it  may  add 
something  to  the  popularity  even  of  the  author  of  the  three 
hymns.'  It  certainly  does  nothing  of  the  kind.  The 
majority  of  the  poems  are  tame  and  flat,  without  anything 
distinctive  or  even  quaint  in  them.  There  is  no  unreason 
ableness  in  the  complaint  of  '  the  absence  of  all  discrimi 
nation  on  the  part  of  the  editor  who  committed  most 
impartially  to  the  press  the  entire  unsifted  mass  of  the 
bishop's  poetical  papers.'  One  of  the  best  pieces  is  '  The 
Christian  Pastor,'  a  few  lines  of  which  may  be  quoted : 

Give  me  the  priest  these  graces  shall  possess, 

Of  an  ambassador  the  just  address, 

A  father's  tenderness,  a  shepherd's  care, 

A  leader's  courage  which  the  Cross  can  bear, 

A  ruler's  awe,  a  watchman's  wakeful  eye, 

A  pilot's  skill  the  helm  in  storms  to  ply, 

A  fisher's  patience,  and  a  labourer's  toil, 

A  guide's  dexterity  to  disembroil, 

A  prophet's  inspiration  from  above, 

A  teacher's  knowledge,  and  a  Saviour's  love. 

The  true  spirit  of  poetry  which  breathes  in  Jeremy 
Taylor's  prose  writings  might  have  made  us  regret  that  he 
had  not  turned  his  attention  to  verse,  had  he  not  unforiu- 


2QO        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

nately  done  so.  Certainly  the  '  Festival  Hymns '  appended 
to  the  '  Golden  Grove '  should  rather  make  us  thankful  that 
the  best  preacher  and  devotional  writer  of  his  day, — almost 
of  any  day, — did  not  exhaust  his  energies  in  work  which 
was  not  congenial  to  him.  The  irregular  Pindaric  metre 
in  which  they  are  written  is  not,  perhaps,  suited  for 
hymns.  But  that  is  not  all.  The  divine  afflatus  is 
wanting, — that  indescribable  something  which  every  person 
of  taste  recognises  when  it  is  there  and  misses  when  it 
is  absent,  which  is  necessary  to  constitute  true  poetry. 
George  Herbert's  rhythm  is  as  rough  and  irregular  as 
Taylor's,  but  in  reading  the  slightest  fragment  of  the  former 
one  feels  '  that  is  a  true  poet,'  in  the  latter  one  does  not. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  quote  extracts,  for  the  world  has 
not  ranked  Taylor  among  its  poets,  and  the  world  in  this 
respect  has  not  done  him  injustice.  His  prose  is  most 
poetical,  his  poetry  most  prosaic. 

The  same  may  be  said  in  a  minor  degree  of  John  N  orris, 
but  the  contrast  is  not  so  violent ;  for  his  prose  is  im 
measurably  inferior,  and  his  poetry  perhaps  a  little  superior 
to  Taylor's.  It  can,  however,  scarcely  be  called  devotional 
poetry,  being  mostly  dedicated  to  the  praise  of  a  retired 
life. 

Bishop  Patrick,  whose  prose,  curiously  enough,  does 
not  give  the  slightest  indication  of  a  poetical  mind,  wrote 
sacred  poetry  which  is  by  no  means  contemptible.  There 
is  unquestionable  merit  in  some  of  his  poetical  translations 
from  the  ancients.  Let  us  take  as  a  specimen  the  follow 
ing  translation  from  Aquinas  *  Upon  the  Morning  we  are  to 
receive  the  Holy  Communion  : ' — 

0  wondrous  night !     Strange  Supper  of  the  Lord  ! 

1  come,  said  He,  to  do  thy  will, 

I  must  all  Rites,  all  Promises  fulfill. 

For  his  selected  twelve  the  Sacred  Board 

With  his  own  type,  the  Paschal  Lamb,  was  spread, 

All  He  their  dark  Forefathers  would  afford, 


DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL    WORKS  2QI 

With  a  plain  sallad,  and  no  pleasant  bread. 
When  on  the  dusky  type  the  twelve  had  fed, 
With  his  own  hands  he  deals  his  body  for  a  dole, 
So  deals  it  to  them  all,  that  each  receives  the  whole. 

The  following  original  *  Hymn  before  Lent '  has  been 
borrowed  and  adapted,  but  neither  acknowledged  nor  im 
proved,  in  modern  collections. 

Hallelujah  to  our  King  ! 

That's  the  song  good  angels  love  ! 

Hallelujah,  sweetly  sing 

All  the  souls  of  saints  above  ; 

There  they  sing,  and  singing,  stay 

In  God's  Courts  an  endless  day. 

In  eternal  hymns  of  praise 
Great  Jerusalem  on  high 
Tunefully  her  voice  does  raise, 
All  her  sons  in  bliss  reply ; 
Thus  they  sing,  but  we  must  weep, 
Exiles,  whom  the  heathen  keep. 

Ah  !  unworthy  we,  unfit ! 
Hallelujah  should  not  sing, 
Guilty  souls  must  intermit, 
And  no  Hallelujahs  bring. 
Now  the  solemn  time  comes  in, 
To  lament  for  every  sin. 

0  Bless'd  Three  One  !  then  let  us  pray, 
And  beg  Thy  mercy  now  we  may, 
Beg  that  we  may  observe  one  high 
Perpetual  Easter  in  the  sky, 
And  to  Thy  praise  the  song  may  sing 
Of  Hallelujah  to  our  King.1 

Addison's  hymns  are  too  well-known  to  need  quoting  ; 
but  Samuel  Wesley  deserves  mention,  if  for  no  other  reason, 
for  his  sheer  industry  in  the  department  of  sacred  poetry. 
*  The  noted  poet,  Mr.  Wesley,'  as  Thoresby  calls  him,2  did 

1   See  Poems  upon  Divine  and  Moral  Subjects,  original  and  translations, 
by  Bishop  S.  Patrick,  and  other  eminent  hands  (1719). 
-  Diary  for  September  10,  1724. 


LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

not  reach  a  very  high  level.  His  heroic  poem  on  the  Life 
of  Christ,  which  gained  him  the  living  of  Epworth,  can 
only  be  called  a  *  great  work  '  in  point  of  size.  Perhaps 
the  best  of  his  numerous  poetical  performances  is  the 
spirited  translation  of  the  Great  Hallel  appended  to  his 
'  Pious  Communicant.'  The  following  rendering  of  a  part 
of  Psalm  116  is  a  fair  sample  :— 

Yes,  all  those  vows  which  in  my  straits 

Unto  the  Lord  I  made  ; 
Shall  now  be  at  his  Temple  Gates 

Before  his  People  paid. 
His  Priests  shall  mix  their  Hymns  with  mine 

His  goodness  to  record, 
And  all  Jerusalem  shall  joyn 

With  me  to  praise  the  Lord. 

The  following,  from  Psalm  118,  is  surely  superior  to  either 
the  Old  or  the  New7  Version  : — 

Blessed  be  he  who'll  Blessings  bring, 
Pardon  and  Grace  from  Heaven's  high  King. 
We,  who  from  his  high  Altar  bless, 
Will  for  his  people  ask  success  ; 
He  from  the  confines  of  despair, 
Has  rais'd  us  to  the  Lightsome  Air. 
Let  the  crown' d  victims  haste  away, 
And  thousands  after  thousands  slay, 
Wash  the  broad  courts  with  sacred  gore, 
Till  Bashan's  Fields  can  send  no  more,  &c. 

Much  of  the  rest  of  his  sacred  poetry  rises  to  this  level, 
and  it  is  a  little  too  severe  upon  his  literary  work  to  say, 
'  he  made  ample  amends  for  his  bad  poetry  by  his  good 
life.' l 

William  Rawlet  published  in  1687  '  Poetic  Miscellanies,' 
which  are  at  any  rate  not  contemptible.  Witness  the  follow 
ing  '  Hymn  on  the  Ascension  Day  :  '- 

Art  thou  ascended,  blessed  Lord,  on  high  ? 
And  do  I  on  this  earth  still  grovelling  lye, 

1  Granger's  Biographical  History,  vol.  iii.  p.  330. 


DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL    WORKS  293 

In  muddy,  sensual,  fading  pleasures  drown'd, 

Where  pain  and  grief,  horrors  and  hell  are  found  ? 

O  pity,  dearest  Lord,  some  pity  take 

On  a  poor,  fainting  soul,  for  thy  Name's  sake. 

Help,  Lord,  Lord  help,  to  Thee  I  lift  mine  eyes, 

Stretch  forth  thy  helping  hand,  and  make  me  rise ; 

O  raise  my  sinking  soul  above  the  mud 

And  dirt  of  low  delights,  which  flesh  and  blood 

Relish  and  crave ;  let  my  exalted  mind 

Its  pleasure  in  thy  love  and  service  find. 

Keep  my  soul  mindful  of  its  heavenly  birth, 

That  it  may  Heaven-ward  tend,  wean'd  from  this  Earth. 

By  all  my  falls  upon  this  slippery  ground, 

Grant  that  I  nearer  may  to  Heaven  rebound, 

And  let  all  streams  of  comfort  here  below, 

Up  to  the  Fountain  lead  me,  whence  they  flow. 

Dean  Comber  also  sacrificed  to  the  Muses.  *  His  best 
piece,  the  '  Elegy  on  the  Death  of  Mary,  Queen  of  England,' 
is  most  pathetic  and  striking,  but  it  can  hardly  be  ranked 
among  devotional  poetry.  Susanna  Hopton  wrote  at  least 
one  hymn,  which  is  so  quaint  and  so  little  known  that 
it  may  be  quoted  in  full. 

Sweet  Jesu,  why,  why  dost  Thou  love 

Such  worthless  things  as  we  ? 
Why  is  thy  Heart  still  towards  us, 

Who  seldom  think  on  Thee  ? 
Thy  Bounty  gives  us  all  we  have, 

And  we  thy  gifts  abuse, 
Thy  bounty  gives  us  e'en  thy  Self, 

And  we  thy  Self  refuse. 
My  soul,  and  why,  why  do  we  love 

Such  worthless  things  as  these  ? 
These  that  withdraw  us  from  the  Lord, 

And  His  pure  eyes  displease. 
Break  off,  and  be  no  more  a  child, 

To  run  and  sweat  and  cry ; 
While  all  this  stir,  this  huge  concern, 

Is  only  for  a  Fly ; 
Some  silly  Fly  that's  hard  to  catch, 

And  nothing  when  'tis  caught ; 
Such  are  the  Toys  thou  striv'st  for  here, 
Not  worth  a  serious  thought. 


294        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Break  off,  and  raise  thy  manly  eye 

Up  to  the  joys  above  ; 
Behold  all  those  thy  Lord  prepares 

To  woo  and  crown  thy  love. 
Alas  !  dear  Lord,  I  cannot  love 

Unless  Thou  draw  my  heart, 
Thou,  who  thus  kindly  mak'st  me  know, 

O  make  me  do  my  part. 
Still  do  thou  love  me/O  my  Lord, 

That  I  may  still  love  Thee, 
Still  make  me  love  Thee,  O  my  God, 

That  Thou  may'st  still  love  me. 
Thus  may  my  God,  and  my  poor  soul, 

Still  one  another  love, 
Till  I  depart  from  this  low  world 

T'  enjoy  my  God  above. 
To  Thee,  Great  God,  &c.     (Doxology).1 

Dean  Hickes  inserted  several  hymns  in  the  '  Devotions 
in  the  ancient  way  of  Offices  '  noticed  above,  some  of  which 
are  good.  John  Mason's  '  Songs  of  Praise  '  (1683)  were 
deservedly  most  popular.  Henry  Yaughan  wrote  sacred 
poetry  of  very  great  beauty,  but  it  scarcely  comes  under 
the  head  of  '  devotional  works.' 

Other  good  Christians  essayed  to  write  sacred  poetry, 
which  it  would  be  cruel  to  their  memory  to  quote.  Sir 
Eichard  Blackmore  had  entered  upon  his  career  as  the  rival 
of  Milton  in  the  domain  of  Christian  epics  before  our 
period  closed ;  Sir  Matthew  Hale  poured  forth  his  soul 
every  Christmas  day  in  verse  which  speaks  more  for  his 
piety  than  for  his  poetry ;  Henry  More  wrote  pious  verses, 
which  are,  of  course,  like  everything  that  emanated  from 
that  refined  mind,  full  of  beautiful  ideas ;  but  these  would 
have  been  better  expressed  in  prose.  In  short,  it  is  hard 
to  find  any  addition  worth  mentioning  to  the  exceedingly 
meagre  list  given  above  of  the  devotional  literature  pro 
duced  in  a  metrical  form.  A  low,  or  rather  a  false, 

1  Hymn  appended  to  The  Sacrifice  of  a  Devout  Christian,  or  his  Pre 
paration  for,  and  Reception  of,  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  at  the  end  of  the 
Hexameron. 


DEVOTIONAL    AND    PRACTICAL    WORKS  295 

standard  of  sacred  poetry  prevailed,  a  curious  illustration  of 
which  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  Tate  and  Brady's 
version  of  the  Psalms,  much  as  it  was  criticised,  never 
seems  to  have  been  objected  to  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
deficient  in  poetical  inspiration;  on  the  contrary,  it  was 
more  than  once  objected  to  as  being  only  too  good.  The 
lack  is  all  the  more  remarkable  because  the  prose  of  the 
period  is  full  of  the  poetical  spirit ;  and  also  because  the 
preceding  half -century  was  singularly  rich  in  sacred  poetry. 
Whom  can  we  place  on  a  level,  or  anything  near  on  a 
level,  with  George  Herbert,  John  Donne,  Francis  Quarles, 
Eichard  Crashaw,  Abraham  Cowley,  Kobert  Herrick,1  or 
any  of  '  that  serried  throng  of  poets  militant  who  gave  in 
their  allegiance  to  Laud,  and  became  ornaments,  and  then 
martyrs,  of  the  High  Church  party,' 2— to  say  nothing  of 
the  great  Puritan  poet  who  towered  far  above  them  all  ? 
Indeed,  an  apology  would  be  needed  for  touching  upon  the 
devotional  poetry  at  all,  were  it  not  obviously  necessary,  in 
common  fairness,  to  point  out  the  barrenness  as  well  as 
the  fertility  of  the  soil. 

1  I  am  aware,  of  course,  that  the  three  last  survived  the  Restoration,  but 
their  poetry,  both  in  date  and  spirit,  belongs  to  the  earlier  era  distinctly. 

2  E.  W.  Gosse,  in  a  most  interesting  article  on  '  Richard  Crashaw,'  in 
the  Cornhill  Magazine  for  April  1883,  and  since  republished  in  his  Seven 
teenth  Century  Studies.     See   also   Professor   Henry  Morley's  admirable 
little  selection  of  Cavalier  and  Puritan  Song, '  The  King  and  the  Commons,' 
especially  his  Introduction. 


296        LIFE    IX    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE. 

IN  discussing  the  relation  of  the  Church  to  social  life,  an 
obviously  important  but  exceedingly  difficult  question  occurs 
at  the  threshold  of  the  inquiry.  What  was  the  social 
position  of  the  officers  of  the  Church, — the  clergy  ? 

The  most  contradictory  answers  have  been  given  both 
by  contemporaries  and  by  writers  of  our  own  day  to  the 
question.  Everybody  knows  Lord  Macaulay's  description 
of  the  social  position  of  the  clergy  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century ;  and  everybody  ought  to  know  that 
the  accuracy  of  that  description  has  been  much  dis 
puted.1  But  is  it  possible  to  generalise  at  all  about  the 
social  position  of  a  body  of  men  drawn  from  such  widely 
different  classes,  and  possessed  of  such  widely  different 
talents,  as  the  English  clergy  have  always  been  ?  Let  any 
one  attempt  to  make  such  a  generalisation  about  the  clergy 
of  our  own  day,  concerning  whom  he  has,  presumably, 
access  to  far  more  information  than  he  can  have  concern 
ing  the  clergy  of  any  past  generation,  and  he  will  soon  find 
what  a  hopeless  task  he  has  set  himself.  But  in  dealing 
with  the  case  of  the  clergy  of  the  period  we  are  considering, 
the  difficulty  is  increased  tenfold,  not  only  by  the  distance 
of  time,  but  also  by  a  combination  of  circumstances  which 
have  now  ceased  to  exert  anything  like  the  same  influence 
which  they  exerted  then.  The  far  greater  prevalence  of 

1  See  Mr.  Macaulay's  Character  of  the  Clergy  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
Seventeenth  Century,  &c.,  by  Kev.  Churchill  Babington  ;  also  Mr.  Glad 
stone's  Review  of  Trevelyan's  Life  of  Macaulay  (Gleanings,  vol.  ii.). 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  297 

pluralities  vastly  widened  the  gulf  between  different  classes 
of  clergy,  and  that  in  a  twofold  way.  It  made  the  great 
prizes  of  the  Church  better  worth  having,  but  on  the  other 
hand,  when  two  or  three  pieces  of  preferment  were  held  by 
one  man,  those  left  open  were  of  course  proportionately 
fewer,  and  a  vast  number  of  clergy  lived  and  died  without 
the  slightest  chance  of  rising  above  the  rank  of  stipendiary 
curates.  Those  who  were  taunted  with  the  plebeian  rank 
of  the  clergy  could  retort,  with  perfect  truth,  by  enumerat 
ing  a  whole  host  of  patrician  names.  The  Granvilles,  the 
Comptons,  the  Breretons,  the  Booths,  the  Montagues,  the 
Crewes,  the  Norths,  the  Bathursts,  the  Annesleys,  the 
Finches,  the  Grahams,  the  Femes,  the  Trelawneys,  and 
many  other  noble  families,  all  had  their  representatives 
among  the  clergy.  '  In  short,'  writes  Jeremy  Collier  most 
truly, '  the  Priesthood  is  the  profession  of  a  gentleman.  .  .  . 
The  honour  of  the  family  continues,  and  the  heraldry  is 
every  jot  as  safe  in  the  Church  as  'twas  in  the  State.' !  So 
also  Wood  speaks  of  Holy  Orders  as  '  the  readiest  way 
for  preferment  for  the  younger  sons  of  noblemen.'  2  Very 
probably  ;  but  the  selfsame  reason  which  made  the  ministry 
an  eligible  profession  for  these  sprigs  of  nobility  made  it 
an  ineligible  one  for  vast  numbers  of  the  clergy. 

Again,  the  law  of  supply  and  demand  will,  of  course, 
always  affect  the  social  status  of  the  clergy.  The  complaint 
now  is,  that  the  demand  exceeds  the  supply ;  it  then  was, 
that  the  supply  exceeded  the  demand.  Eachard  affirms 
that '  we  are  perfectly  overstocked  with  professors  of  divinity, 
there  being  scarce  employment  for  half  of  those  who  under 
take  that  office ;  ' 3  and  his  adversaries,  who  demurred  to 

1  Short  View  of  the  Profaneness  and  Immorality  of  the  English  Stage, 
p.  88.  See  also  Zachary  Cawdrey's  Discourse  of  Patronage,  published 
1675.  '  The  nobility  and  gentry  have  dedicated  some  of  their  own  sons  to 
the  ministry.'  Also  Chamberlayne's  Anglice  Notitice,  Part  I.,  p.  246,  and 
Part  III.,  p.  249,  where  lists  of  patrician  clergy  are  given. 

•  AtJience  Oxonienses.     Account  of  Bishop  Compton. 

3  Grounds  and  Occasions  of  the  Contempt  of  the  Clergy  &c.,  p.  105. 


298        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

almost  all  his  statements,  never  attempted  to  deny  this. 
Tenison,  when  he  was  rector  of  S.  Martin's  in  the  Fields, 
found  '  thirty  or  forty  young  men  "in  Holy  Orders  in  his 
parish,'  more  or  less  at  a  loose  end.1  These  superfluous 
clergy  found  employments  which  have  now  all  but  dis 
appeared,  and  which,  while  they  were  exercised,  tended  to 
increase  the  number  of  clergy  of  a  lower  grade.  '  Eeaders  ' 
in  parish  churches  are  a  thing  of  the  past ;  '  lecturers ' 
are  now  merged  in  incumbents  or  stipendiary  curates; 
'  governors  '  of  young  men  of  quality  are  exchanged  for 
private  tutors,  who  are  not  necessarily  clergymen,  or  who, 
if  they  are,  generally  combine  parochial  with  their  tutorial 
work ;  and  finally,  the  domestic  chaplain  pure  and  simple, 
except  as  an  honorary  officer,  has  well-nigh  disappeared. 

But  the  domestic  chaplain  was  so  conspicuous  a  feature 
in  the  period  we  are  dealing  with,  and  exercised  so  much 
influence  on  social  life,  that  he  must  not  be  so  summarily 
dismissed.  It  has  been  customary  to  represent  him  as 
having  been  little  better  than  a  menial  servant.  Everybody 
knows  the  story  in  the  'Tatler'  (No.  255)  of  the  chaplain 
who,  instead  of  retiring  when  the  sweetmeats  came  in, 
*  continued  to  sit  out  the  last  course,  and  was  informed 
the  next  morning  by  the  butler  that  his  lordship  had  no 
farther  occasion  for  his  services ; '  and  of  the  chaplain  in 
the  '  Guardian  '  (No.  163),  who  was  bold  enough  '  to  maintain 
his  post  at  the  dessert,  and  every  day  to  eat  tart  in  the  face 
of  his  patron.'  Oldham's  lines  are  supposed  to  represent 
the  normal  condition  of  the  domestic  chaplain  : 

Diet,  an  horse  and  thirty  pounds  a  year 

Besides  th'  advantage  of  his  Lordship's  ear, 

The  credit  of  the  business,  and  the  state 

Are  things  that  in  a  youngster's  sense  sound  great, 

Little  the  unexperienced  wretch  does  know 

What  slavery  he  oft  must  undergo  : 

Who,  though  in  silken  scarf  and  cassock  drest, 

Wears  but  a  gayer  livery  at  best. 

1  See  Evelyn's  Diary 'for  February  15,  168  J. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  299 

When  dinner  calls,  the  implement  must  wait, 
With  holy  words  to  consecrate  the  meat, 
But  hold  it  for  a  favour  seldom  shewn 
If  he  be  deign'd  the  honour  to  sit  down. 

Eachard  places  him  still  lower,  implying  that  for  10L  a  year 
he  might  be  expected  to  do  the  work  of  a  groom  as  well  as  of 
a  chaplain  ;  ]  and  an  execrable  doggrel  of  the  period  entitled 
*  The  Chaplain's  Petition  to  the  Hon.  House  for  Kedress  of 
grievances  '  (1693),  gives  us,  if  possible,  a  still  lower  opinion 
of  the  office.  From  these  and  such  like  sources  Lord  Macaulay 
and  others  have  drawn  their  familiar  descriptions  of  the 
domestic  chaplain.  Yet  surely  there  is  another  side  to  the 
picture.  When  we  turn  from  satire  to  history,  it  is  remark 
able  to  observe  how  many  clergymen  of  the  very  highest 
standing  and  character  were  at  some  period  of  their  lives 
domestic  chaplains.  Ken  was  chaplain  to  Lord  Maynard, 
^Yilson  (Sodor  and  Man)  to  the  Earl  of  Derby,  Sherlock  of 
Winwick  to  Sir  K.  Bindlosse,  Bray  to  Sir  J.  Price,  Kettlewell 
to  the  Countess  of  Bedford,  Parsons  to  the  Countess  of 
Piochester,  Hough  to  the  Duke  of  Ormond,  Samuel  Wesley  to 
the  Marquis  of  Normanby.  A  body  which  numbered  such 
men  as  these  among  its  ranks  could  not  necessarily  be  con 
temptible.  And  why  should  they  be  ?  Surely  the  domestic 
chaplains  had  opportunities  of  doing  good  among  the  upper 
classes  which  few  other  men  possessed.  And  that  they  did 
sometimes  do  good,  the  noble  and  courageous  remonstrances 
which  Wilson  and  Sherlock  made  to  their  respective  patrons 
prove.  When  they  combined  the  cure  of  the  patron's 
parish  with  their  chaplain's  duties,  as  Ken  for  example 
did  at  Easton,  there  was  no  fear  of  their  becoming  idle. 
Moreover,  the  office  of  domestic  chaplain  gave  a  chance, 
even  now  much  needed,  to  young  men  who  had  taken  their 
degrees  at  the  University  (which  they  did  earlier  than  they 
do  now),  to  study  divinity  and  perform  quasi-clerical 

1  Grounds  and  Occasions  for  the  Contempt,  of  the  Clergy,  p.  18. 


300        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

functions  before  they  attained  the  canonical  age  for  ordi 
nation,  or  when,  for  other  reasons,  they  desired  to  put  off 
that  all-important  step.1  Chaplains  also  often  instructed 
the  sons  of  the  family,  and  hence  gained  an  influence  over 
the  young  squire  which  lasted  through  life.  In  fact,  for 
many  reasons,  for  the  last  more  than  all,  it  is  by  no  means 
an  unmixed  advantage  that  the  office  of  chaplain  has  fallen 
into  disuse. 

Of  course  the  abuses  of  the  office  were  very  sad.  It 
was,  for  instance,  an  utterly  unreasonable  custom  and  one 
fruitful  of  great  abuses,  that  a  man  should  be  able  to  qualify 
for  being  a  pluralist  by  becoming  a  nobleman's  chaplain.2 
And  when  chaplains  were  treated  as  satirists  tell  us  they 
were  (and  there  is  doubtless  some  truth  in  the  accounts), 
the  result  inevitably  tended  to  degrade  the  clerical  office. 
But  though  it  was  a  delicate  post  to  fill,  it  might  be,  and 
often  was,  filled  with  great  advantage  to  social  life.  Let 
anyone  read  Jeremy  Collier's  most  admirable  treatise  on 
*  the  Office  of  a  Chaplain,' 3  or  Barnabas  Oley's  answer  to 
Eachard,  quoted  above,  or,  if  he  prefer  a  layman's  view, 
Addison's  description  of  Sir  Eoger  de  Coverley's  chaplain, 
and  he  will  see  what  noble  work  such  a  man  might  do. 

In  estimating  the  social  position,  both  of  chaplains  and 
of  the  clergy  generally,  one  circumstance  which  has  con 
stantly  been  overlooked  ought  to  be  carefully  taken  into 
account.  The  difference  in  the  external  treatment  of  various 
ranks  was  far  more  marked  than  it  is  at  the  present  day. 
The  upper  and  the  upper  middle  classes  were  then  divided 
from  one  another  by  a  very  distinct  line  of  demarcation  ; 
and  on  the  other  hand  the  tradesman  was  far  less  distinctly 
divided  from  the  professional  man  than  he  is  now.  It  was 
no  want  of  appreciation  of  his  merit  which  caused  Lord 

1  See  some  excellent  remarks  on  this  point,  probably  by  Mr.  Barnabas 
Oley,  in  the  Answer  to  Grounds  and  Occasions  for  the  Contempt  of  the 
Clergy,  pp.  87-8. 

z  See  a  very  painful  instance  of  this  in  Pepys'  Diary  for  May  29,  1667. 

3  Published  in  Essays  upon  Moral  Subjects,  by  J.  Collier. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  30! 

Ashburnham  to  set  Locke  to  take  his  meals  at  a  side  table. 
It  was  merely  the  custom  of  the  day.  There  was  nothing 
remarkable  in  the  fact  that  of  the  two  brothers  Barrow,  one 
should  be  a  linen-draper  and  the  other  a  bishop.  Nor  was 
it  regarded  as  a  very  extraordinary  rise  for  the  son  of  a 
barber,  like  Jeremy  Taylor,  to  reach  the  episcopal  bench. 
When,  therefore,  we  read  of  '  a  shopkeeper  or  artisan  '  being 
hardly  ready  to  change  places  with  a  clergyman,1  or  of  the 
disgust  of  a  fussy  alderman  at  a  clergyman's  wife  '  by  a 
wilful  mistake  getting  the  upper  hand  of  a  shopkeeper's 
wife,  whose  husband  may,  within  a  little  time,  be  an  alder 
man  of  the  town,' 2  we  must  not  suppose  that  such  stories 
imply  as  much  social  degradation  of  the  clergy  as  they 
would  at  the  present  day. 

And  least  of  all  must  we  be  misled  by  the  travesties  of 
the  clergy  in  the  light  literature  of  the  day.  Of  all  the 
refutations  of  Lord  Macaulay's  famous  description,  none  is 
so  damaging  as  his  own  explanation  of  the  sources  from 
whence  he  derived  his  information.  He  did  not,  he  says, 
pay  much  attention  to  his  censors,  because  no  one  was  fit 
to  judge  of  such  a  question  except  those  who  had  soaked 
their  minds  with  the  transitory  literature  of  the  day.  If 
one  who,  in  the  course  of  business,  certainly  has  gone 
through  that  edifying  process,  may  venture  to  give  an 
opinion,  it  is,  that  no  one  is  more  unfit  than  those  who  have 
derived  their  impressions  solely  or  even  mainly  from  such 
sources.  Let  us  apply  the  test  to  our  own  times.  Will  any 
competent  person  contend  that  Mr.  Slope,  Archdeacon 
Grantley,  Bishop  Proudie,  Mr.  Charles  Honeyman,  Dr. 
Crump,  and  Mr.  Hugby  are  anything  but  caricatures  ? 
And  yet  Mr.  Trollope  and  Mr.  Thackeray  are  fairness  itself 
when  compared  with  the  Wycherleys,  the  Otways,  and  the 
Congreves  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Why,  these  latter 

1  See  Anglia  Notitia,  Part  I.,  p.  242. 

2  See  A  Private  Conference  betiveena  rich  Alderman  and  a  poor  Country 
Vicar,  published  1670. 


3O2        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

writers  had  the  very  best  of  reasons  for  decrying  the  clergy, 
for,  if  they  were  right,  the  clergy's  teaching  was  obviously 
wrong.1  But  even  supposing  that  the  wading  through  the 
filth  of  the  Kestoration  dramas  was  the  best  mode  of  en 
abling  the  mind  to  judge  of  so  serious  a  subject,  still  sufficient 
facts  are  not  furnished  from  which  to  draw  an  induction. 
For,  after  all,  the  allusions  to  the  clergy  are  very  slight  and 
sparse  and  vague.  The  '  Say  graces  '  and  the  '  Crapes  '  are 
mere  shadows ;  you  cannot  draw  any  tangible  conclusion 
from  their  unsavoury  characters. 

It  is,  however,  admitted  that  there  is  other  evidence  far 
more  satisfactory  and  conclusive  of  the  '  contempt  of  the 
clergy,'  a  phrase  so  incessantly  repeated  that  it  almost 
becomes  a  stock  phrase  of  the  time.  In  fact  contemporary 
testimony  is  almost  unanimous  on  the  point.  Complaints 
come  from  the  most  opposite  quarters.  Burnet,  the  low 
churchman,  bewails  '  the  contempt  the  clergy  are  generally 
fallen  into.' 2  White  Kennet,  of  the  same  school,  declares 
that  '  the  contempt  of  the  clergy  is  the  sin  and  shame  of 
this  latter  age.'3  Defoe,  the  dissenter,  affirms  that  'the 
ecclesiastical  power  has  lost  its  credit.' 4  High  churchmen 
all  take  up  the  same  sad  tale.  Atterbury  laments  that 
'  the  clergy  are  made  a  by-word  and  a  reproach,'  and 
frequently  repeats  the  lament  in  different  forms  in  his 
sermons  and  charges.5  Barnabas  Oley,  while  demurring 

1  '  The  contempt  of  religion  is  ofttimes  both  the  cause  and  the  effect  of  it 
[contempt  of  the  clergy].  It  is  not  at  all  to  be  wondered  at  that  those  who 
hate  to  be  reformed  should  hate  those  whose  duty  and  business  it  ought  to 
be  to  endeavour  to  reform  them.  Woe  be  to  us  if  those  who  are  enemies 
to  religion  speak  well  of  us !  ' — Stillingfleet's  Ecclesiastical  Cases  dx., 
p.  176. 

'2  A  Discourse  of  the  Pastoral  Care,  Preface,  p.  xxvi. 

3  Letter  from  Kennet  to  Stillingfleet  (1698),  in  Collectanea  Curiosa, 
the  Tanner  MSS. 

4  Account  of  the  Societies  for  Reformation  of  Manners  (1699),  p.  113. 

5  See  especially  his  '  Fast  Sermon  at  S.  Paul's,'  April  9,  1707,  Sermons^ 
vol.  ii.  p.  129.     Also  his  sermon  before  the  Sons  of  the  Clergy,  Dec.  6,  1709 
ii.  265. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  303 

to  most  of  the  assertions  of  Eachard,  fully  admits  that  his- 
assertion  that  the  clergy  are  contemned  is  too  true.1  Peter 
Barwick  complains  bitterly  of  the  '  contumely  with  which 
even  the  best  clergy  are  treated ;  '  2  Bramhall  that  it  has 
'  become  gentile  and  fashionable  for  every  man  who  has 
wit  and  pride  enough,  to  despise  a  parson.' 3  Lancelot 
Addison  assumed  it  as  a  fact  not  to  be  disputed,  and  wrote 
a  treatise  on  '  the  reasons  of  the  present  contempt  of  the 
clergy.' 4  Stillingfleet  (perhaps  the  highest  living  authority 
on  such  a  point),  declares  that  'the  contempt  of  the  clergy 
is  too  notorious  not  to  be  observed.' 5  Dr.  Bray  grounds 
his  appeal  for  clerical  libraries  on  '  the  contempt  of  the 
priestly  office.'  Henry  Dodwell,  as  his  biographer  tells  us, 
'  resented  warmly  contempt  cast  on  clergymen.'  Edward 
Chamberlayne,  himself  a  great  respecter  of  the  English 
clergy,  affirms  that  '  they  are  less  respected  generally  than 
any  in  Europe ;  ' 6  and  Dean  Swift  not  only  protested 
against  the  contempt  of  the  clergy,7  but  did  more  than  he 
has  been  generally  credited  with  towards  removing  it. 

What  were  the  grounds  for  this  '  contempt  of  the 
clergy?'  Eachard  specifies  two,  'the  ignorance  of  some, 
and  the  poverty  of  others.'  Lei  us  take  the  latter  point, 
which  was  most  frequently  dwelt  upon  and  certainly  the 
best  established,  first.  In  estimating  what  was  a  com 
petency  for  a  clergyman,  we  are  helped  by  the  Eoyal  Letter 
issued  to  the  Bishops,  Deans,  and  Prebendaries  in  1660, 
bidding  them  'take  due  care  to  provide  sufficient  mainte 
nance  for  Vicars,  or  for  Curates  where  vicarages  were  not 

1  Answer  to  Grounds  and  Occasions  &c.,  ut  supra. 

2  Vita  Joannis  Barwick,  p.  235. 

3  Vindication  <&c.  against  Baxter  (1672). 

4  The  full  title  is  :  A  modest  Plea  for  the  Clergy,  wherein  is  briefly  con 
sidered  the  Original,  Antiquity,  and  Necessity  of  that  Catting;  together 
with  genuine  and  spuriotis  Reasons  of  their  present  Contempt. 

5  Bishop  Stillingfleet 's  Ecclesiastical  Cases  relating  to  the  Bights  and 
Duties  of  the  Parochial  Clergy  (1698),  p.  176. 

c  Anglice  Notitice,  Part  I.,  p.  252. 

7  See  Essay  on  the  Fates  of  Clergymen,  and  TV  orks  passim. 


LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

endowed,  before  granting  new  leases  of  rectories,  &c.'  The 
amount  specified  as  a  sufficient  maintenance  is  '  100L 
or  SOL  per  annum,  or  more  if  it  will  bear  it.' '  White 
Kennet,  nearly  half  a  century  later  (1704),  specifies  the 
same  amount.2  Multiplying  this  by  four,  to  allow  for  the 
altered  value  of  money,  we  have  from  three  to  four  hundred 
a  year,  about  the  same  as  we  should  now  judge  a  competent 
average  income  for  a  beneficed  clergyman. 

Now  let  us  see  how  the  case  is  reported  to  have  stood. 
Swift  estimates  the  average  income  of  a  vicar  at  40L  a 
year,  declaring  '  the  maintenance  of  an  Incumbent  in  most 
parts  of  England  '  to  be  '  contemptibly  small.' 3  Henry 
Wharton  affirmed,  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  cen 
tury,  that  '  in  this  nation  are  some  benefices  not  exceeding 
the  value  of  5L  per  annum,  many  hundreds  not  exceeding 
20L,  and  some  thousands  not  exceeding  SOL  ; ' 4  Bishop 
Burnet,  that  '  some  hundreds  of  parishes  in  England  pay 
not  10L  a  year  to  their  pastors,  and  perhaps  some  thousands 
not  50L' 5  If  these  statistics  be  correct,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  Chamberlayne  wrote  in  1684,  'at  present  the  revenues 
of  the  English  clergy  are  generally  very  small  and  insuffi 
cient  ;  ' 6  Hickes  in  1705,  *  there  are  about  ten  thousand 
parish  priests,  whereof  at  least  two-thirds  live  meanly  or 
miserably ;  ' 7  White  Kennet  in  1704,  '  of  nine  thousand 
benefices,  near  seven  thousand  are  beneath  a  competency; ' 8 
Glanvill  in  1678,  '  the  livings  in  corporations  are  generally 
fallen  from  what  they  were  before  our  unhappy  troubles  a 
third  part  at  least  in  their  value ;  ' 9  Eachard  in  1670,  *  I'll 

1  See  Case  of  Impropriations  &c.  (White  Kennet),  p.  254. 

2  Id.  p.  405.  3  On  the  Bill  for  Clerical  Residence  (Ireland). 

4  Defence  of  Pluralities,  p.  185. 

5  History  of  the  Reformation,  Part  II.,  Preface. 

6  State  of  Britain,  p.  269. 

7  Several  Letters  which  passed  between  Dr.  George  Hickes  and  a  Popish 
Priest. 

8  Case  of  Impropriations,  p.  405. 

9  Letter  to  an  M.P.  on  the  present  State  of  Ministers  in  Corporations  and 
great  Towns,  appended  to  his  Essay  concerning  Preaching. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  305 

assure  you  that  20L  or  SOL  a  year  is  the  portion  of  hundreds 
of  the  clergy  of  this  nation  ;  ' l  B.  Oley  in  his  reply  to 
Eachard,  '  I  wish  I  could  confute  that  part  of  your  letter 
which  concerns  our  poverty,  but . . .  there  is  too  much  truth  in 
it  to  be  contradicted,' — and  many  other  contemporary  writers 
to  the  same  effect.2  Most  of  what  has  been  quoted  relates 
to  the  beneficed  clergy,  but  when  we  turn  to  the  unbeneficed, 
from  the  stipendiary  curate  at  30Z.  a  year  to  the  hack 
chaplain  at  10s.  a  month,  the  matter  is  certainly  not 
mended.  It  may  be  perfectly  true  that  '  of  the  aggregate 
national  income  the  clerical  order  had,  not  a  smaller,  but 
a  larger  share  than  now,' 3  but  pluralities  now  abolished, 
large  livings  now  divided,  bishoprics  now  greatly  reduced 
in  value,  and  many  other  causes,  make  this  statement  quite 
compatible  with  a  vast  amount  of  clerical  poverty.  This 
ought  not  to  have  been  a  cause  of  contempt,  for,  as 
Barnabas  Oley  finely  says,  '  an  holy  man  in  a  poor  living 
is  in  a  kingdom,  if  there  be  a  kingdom  of  Heaven  upon 
earth,  as  I  believe,  I  know  there  is  ;  '  but,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  Juvenal's  dictum  is  true  for  all 
ages  and  all  classes : 

Nil  habet  infelix  Paupertas  duritis  in  se, 
Quarn  quod  ridicules  homines  facit. 

Eachard' s  second  point,  the  ignorance  of  the  clergy,  is 
by  no  means  so  apparent.  It  is  admitted  on  all  hands  that 
the  clergy  in  London  and  at  the  Universities  were,  as  a 
rule,  men  of  great  learning  and  literary  industry ;  and,  as 
Mr.  Churchill  Babington  shews  unanswerably,  a  vast  amount 
of  excellent  literary  work  came  from  country  parsonages. 
He  specifies  Beveridge,  Patrick,  Fullwood,  Kettlewell, 

1  Contempt  of  the  Clergy,  p.  85. 

-  See,  e.g.,  Dean  Granville's  Remains,  Part  II.,  p.  45  ;  Dean  Sherlock's 
Discourse  of  Religious  Assemblies,  p.  173 ;  A  Dialogue  between  two  Oxford 
Scholars,  in  Works  of  Mr.  Thomas  Brown,  i.  1-13. 

3  Mr.  Gladstone :  Review  of  Trevelyan's  Life  of  Macaulay— -Gleaning?, 
vol.  ii. 

X 


306        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

Towerson,  Fuller,  Puller,  Sherlock  of  Winwick,  and  John 
Norris,  as  proofs  of  his  assertion.1  And  many  more  might 
be  added.  Thomas  Comber  wrote  his  treatise  on  the 
Catechism  in  the  country  living  of  Stonegrave,  and  the  first 
part  of  his  *  Companion  to  the  Temple '  in  the  country 
living  of  East  Newton  ; 2  Joseph  Bingham  *  completed  in 
his  country  retirement,  besides  several  single  volumes,  his 
"  Origines  Ecclesiastics";  '3  Lancelot  Addison  wrote  several 
works,  of  repute  in  their  day,  in  the  country  living  of 
Milston ;  Simon  Lowth  wrote  his  admirable  catechetical 
treatise  in  the  country  living  of  Tylehurst ;  Edward  Pocock 
continued  his  learned  labours  with  greater  zest  than  ever 
after  the  Eestoration  in  the  country  living  of  Childrey  ;  John 
Flamsteed  prosecuted  his  invaluable  astronomical  researches 
in  the  country  living  of  Barstow  ;  George  Bull  wrote  all  his 
immortal  works  in  the  country  livings  of  Suddington  and 
Avening ;  Edward  Stillingfleet  wrote  his  exhaustive  '  Origines 
Sacrse '  and  several  other  works  in  the  country  living  of 
Button  ;  Samuel  Wesley  was  most  active  in  literary  work  in 
the  country  living  of  Epworth ;  William  Eeeves  made  his 
useful  translations  of  Justin  Martyr,  Tertullian,  and  other 
Fathers  in  the  country  living  of  Crawford. 

Of  course  the  mere  fact  of  the  literary  industry  of  in 
dividual  country  clergy  does  not  disprove  the  ignorance  of 
the  general  mass  ;  but  there  are  other  circumstances  which 
may  lead  us  to  doubt  whether  their  ignorance  was  a  fair 
ground  for  contempt. 

(1)  We  have  general  testimonies  disproving  the  general 
ignorance  of  the  clergy.  Eachard  admits  that  '  the  ordinary 
sort  of  our  English  clergy  do  far  excel  in  learning  the  com- 

1  Mr.  Churchill  Babington  on  Mr.  Macaulaifs  Character  of  the  Clergy 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  Century.     The  fact  that  Beveridge  and 
Patrick  were  afterwards  transferred  to  London  cures  does  not,  of  course, 
affect  the  fact  that  much  of  their  literary  work  was  done  while  they  were 
still  country  parsons. 

2  Memoirs  of  Dean  Comber,  p.  67. 

3  Life  of  Bingham,  prefixed  to  vol.  i.  of  his  Works  in  9  vols.,  p.  ix. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  307 

mon  priests  of  the  Church  of  Kome.' l  Atterbury  asserts 
that  '  for  depth  of  learning,  as  well  as  other  things,  the 
English  clergy  is  not  to  be  paralleled  in  the  whole  Christian 
World.' 2  Burnet,  who  is  by  no  means  inclined  to  over 
estimate  the  clergy,  admits  '  the  high  reputation  for  learn 
ing  of  which  the  clergy  of  this  Church  has  been  so  long 
possessed  ; ' 3  and  an  anonymous  opponent  of  Burnet  points 
to  '  the  general  character  of  the  order  as  to  parts  and 
learning,  which '  he  thinks  '  was  never  better  than  at  present ' 
(1713).4 

(2)  It  is  clear  that,  as  a  rule,  a  University  degree  was 
always  required  before  a  man  was  admitted  as  a  candidate 
for  Holy  Orders ; 5  and  though  a  degree  might  not  imply 
quite  so  much  as  it  does  in  these  days  of  examinations,  it 
did  imply  a  certain  amount  of  culture ;  for  the  Universities 
were   in  a  better   position   then  than  they  were  in  later 
times  when  Gibbon,  Gray,  and  others  complained  of  their 
inefficiency. 

(3)  Though   it  may  seem  inconsistent  with  what  has 
been  said  above  to  appeal  to  '  transitory  literature '  as  a 
proof  of  anything,  there  is  one  kind  which  may  at  any  rate 
bear  out  the  assumption  that   the  clergy  were  not  such 
ignoramuses  as  to  deserve  the  contempt  of  the  nation.    The 
fugitive  pamphlets  on  theological  and  ecclesiastical  topics 
were  written  to  a  very  great  extent  by  clergymen ;  they  are 


1  Observations  upon  Answer  to  Contempt  of  Clergy. 

-  Sermon  before  Sons  of  Clergy,  vol.  ii.  p.  269  of  Sermons. 

3  See  his  Introduction   to  Four  Discourses  delivered   to  the  Clergy  of 
Sarum,  1694,  p.  x. 

4  The  Clergy  and  present  Ministry  defended — a  Letter  to  the  Bisliop  of 
Sarum,  occasioned  his  new  Preface  to  the  Pastoral  Care. 

*  Bishop  Turner  publicly  announced  to  the  clergy  of  the  diocese  of  Ely 
in  1686,  '  I  will  ordain  none  who  hath  not  taken  some  degree  in  one  of  the 
Universities   of   these   realms,  except   by   faculty   from   the   Archbishop.' 
(Letter  before  his  Visitation.)     Wharton  plainly  assumes  the  necessity  of 
a  University  degree  for  Ordination,    (Defence  of  Pluralities,  p.  187.)     See 
also  Cardwell's  Documentary  Annals,  ii.  p.  304,  and  Mr.  Churchill  Babington's 
criticism  on  Macaulay  (ut  supra)  p.  92. 

x  2 


308        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

very  numerous,  and  in  point  of  literary  merit,  they  will 
certainly  bear  comparison  with  a  similar  class  of  literature 
in  the  present  day. 

(4)  The  education  of  the  upper  classes  was  almost  ex 
clusively  in  the  hands  of  the  clergy,  who  must  therefore 
be  credited  with  the  training  of  the  refined  writers  of  the 
Augustan  period  of  English  literature. 

It  sounds  like  a  paradox  to  assert  that  contempt  for  the 
clergy  arose  partly  from  their  poverty,  but  partly  also  from 
their  prosperity.  There  is,  however,  no  doubt  that  such  was 
the  case.  Owing  to  the  very  unequal  distribution  of  Church 
revenues,  both  grounds  for  contempt  or  dislike  existed. 
'  The  envy  and  malignity,'  writes  Wharton,  '  wherewith  al 
most  all  sorts  of  men  look  upon  the  possessions  of  the  clergy 
is  unaccountable.' l  Oley  specifies  '  envie  and  the  affecta 
tion  of  gallantrie '  as  two  occasions  of  contempt  of  which 
Eachard  took  no  notice.2  Pepys'  strictures  on  the  clergy 
clearly  imply  the  same  spirit.3  Nor  is  it  to  be  wondered  at. 
The  sudden  change  from  adversity  to  outward  prosperity 
was  sure  to  provoke  such  a  feeling.  And  perhaps  there 
was  some  ground  for  it  in  the  demeanour,  especially  of 
some  of  the  younger  divines,  who  could  not  carry  corn. 
Swift,  staunch  defender  of  his  order  though  he  was, 
complains  of  '  the  pert,  pragmatical  demeanour  of 
several  young  stagers  in  divinity  upon  their  first  pro 
ducing  themselves  into  the  world.' 4  Stillingfleet  writes  in 
1676,  *  I  have  lately  been  much  in  the  country,  where  I 
have  heard  sad  complaints  of  some  disorderly  clergymen. 
...  I  heartily  wish  our  bishops  would  not  admit  such  raw 
persons  to  live  on  the  Church.'  '  People,'  he  adds,  '  are 

1  Defence  of  Pluralities,  p.  181. 

2  A  friendly  Prosopopoeia  to  the  Author  of  Grounds  and  Occasions  of 
the  Contempt  of  the  Clergic,  in  Oley's  Preface  (1G75)  to  Herbert's  Country 
Parson. 

8  See  Diary  for  November  9,  1663,  taaAptUtinh 

4  Argument  against  abolishing  Christianity,  vol.  viii.  p.  85,  of  Scott's 
edition  of  Swift's  Works. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  309 

ready  to  believe  anything  against  the  clergy  they  do  not 
love.' l  And  many  other  testimonies  might  be  given.2 

And  finally,  the  immorality  and  scepticism  of  the  Re 
storation  period  naturally  tended  to  make  those  whose  very 
profession  was  a  tacit  rebuke  to  both,  objects  of  contempt. 
Stillingfleet  preached  a  most  powerful  and  courageous 
sermon  3  on  the  subject  in  1666  before  the  king,  who  sorely 
needed  such  plain  speaking,  which  has  already  been  quoted. 
'Drolling  on  serious  things,'  writes  Scott  in  his  'Christian 
Life  '  (ii.  p.  99),  '  is  a  humour  of  the  age.'  Hobbism  was 
partly  the  cause,  partly  the  effect  of  this  scoffing  spirit. 
'  Hobbes  was,'  in  the  language  of  one  of  the  most  thoughful 
of  our  modern  historians,  '  one  of  the  greatest  opponents  of 
hierarchical  influences  in  the  State  who  has  ever  existed.' 4 
The  stage  both  reflected  and  kept  alive  the  hostility  to  the 
clergy. 

But  notwithstanding  all  this,  the  clergy  beyond  doubt 
exercised  a  considerable  influence  on  the  social  life  of  the 
period.  Their  circumstances  during  the  Rebellion  had 
forced  them  into  positions  in  which  they  were  able  to 
learn  more  of  the  real  mind  of  the  laity  than  clergymen  in 
ordinary  times  can  do.  Many  had  actually  engaged  in 
lay  professions.  Some,  like  Dr.  Bathurst,  had  practised 
medicine,5  nor  was  it  at  all  unusual  to  combine  the  clerical 
and  medical  professions  after  the  Restoration.6  The  bishop 
of  the  diocese  had,  in  fact,  the  power  of  granting  licenses 
to  the  clergy  to  practise  medicine.  A  frequent  question  in 

1  '  Letter  to  the  Bishop  of '  in  Stillingfleet's  Miscellaneous  Discourses. 

2  See,  inter  alia,  Answer  to  Grounds  and  Occasions  of  Contempt  of  the 
Clergy  (1671),  p.  42,  and  Evelyn's  Diary  for  May  20,  1681. 

3  Sermon  II.  of  Twelve  Sermons  by  Bishop  Stillingfleet,  published  1690. 
Text :  '  Fools  make  a  mock  at  sin.' 

4  Leopold  von  Ranke  :  History  of  England,  principally  in  the  seven 
teenth  Century,  iii.  p.  573. 

5  See  Life  and  Literary  Remains  of  Ralph  Bathurst,  Dean  of  Wells  dc., 
passim. 

«  See  e.g.  Diary  of  Rev.  John  Ward,  Vicar  of  Stratford-upon-Avon, 
arranged  by  C.  Severn,  M.D.,  passim,  and  especially  the  Life  prefixed,  p.  12. 


31O        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

the  Articles  of  Visitation  of  the  period  is,  '  Are  there  any 
[clergy  or  laity]  who  practise  Physic,  Chirurgery,  or  Mid 
wifery  without  license  of  the  Ordinary  ?  '  ' 

Many  had  seen  active  military  service.  Dolben  had 
entered  as  a  volunteer  into  the  royal  army  and  had  risen 
by  his  merits  to  the  rank  of  major.2  Compton  had  been  a 
cornet  in  the  Eoyal  Horse  Guards,3  and  '  is  said  to  have  been 
in  the  field  at  Edge-Hill  fight  in  his  cradle,  and  to  have 
trailed  a  pike  in  Flanders  under  the  Duke  of  York ; ' 4  Thomas 
Marshall,  Eector  of  Lincoln  College,  had  borne  arms  for  the 
king  at  Oxford  ; 5  Bishop  Lake  had  also  *  accepted  a  com 
mission  in  the  army  of  Charles  I.,  and  acquired  military 
reputation  in  defence  of  Basing  House  and  Wallingford 
Castle  ; ' G  Allestree  '  thought  it  no  disgrace  to  carry  a  musket 
and  perform  all  the  duties  of  a  common  soldier,  till  the 
end  of  the  war  ; ' 7  Mew,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  had  been  a 
soldier  for  Charles  I.  in  1642,  and  afterwards  in  Scotland 
for  his  son  ;  had  fought  under  the  Duke  of  York  in  Flanders, 
and  had  so  far  retained  his  military  instincts  after  he  had 
received  the  mitre,  as  to  engage  at  Sedgmoor  in  the  thickest 
of  the  fight.8 

Nor  was  the  legal  profession  one  to  which  the  clergy 
were  entire  strangers.  Bishop  Seth  Ward,  '  for  his  great 
1  skill  in  the  Civil  Law  and  laws  of  the  land  was  designed  by 
King  Charles  II.  to  be  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal ; ' 9  and 
Bishop  Bobinson  of  Bristol  actually  u-as  made  Lord  Privy 
Seal.  Bishop  Stillingfleet  was  on  all  sides  confessed  to 

'  See,  inter  alia,  Articles  at  the  Bishop  of  Chichester's  (Patrick's)  Visi 
tation,  1G90. 

2  Granger's  Biographical  History  of  England,  iii.  p.  246. 

Birch's  Life  of  Tillolson,  p.  185. 

E.  Calamy's  Account  of  his  Own  Life,  ii.  p.  40. 

Wood's  Athena  Oxonienses,  iv.  p.  170. 

Bowies'  Life  of  Ken,  ii.  p.  148.  7  Fell's  Life  of  Allestree,  p.  6. 

Life  of  Ken,  by  a  Layman,  i.  p.  251. 

See  a  curious  Essay  on  the  great  Affinity  of  the  two  Professions  of  Law 
and  Divinity,  d'c.  &c. — a  Letter  from  a  Clergyman  to  a  Laivyer;  published 
about  1714. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  3  1  I 

be  as  good  a  lawyer  as  a  divine.  '  It  does  not  at  all  mis 
become  the  clergy,'  says  the  writer  of  the  curious  essay  quoted 
above, — a  high  churchman,—'  to  study,  and  be  acquainted 
with. the  common  law.' 

The  extremely  active  part  which  the  clergy  took,— and 
were  expected  to  take,— in_politics,  however  undesirable 
we  may  think  it,  unquestionably  tended  to  give  them 
influence  over  the  social  life  of  the  day.  In  the  general 
election  of  1690  we  are  told  that  in  some  places  the  parish 
ioners  appeared,  with  their  clergyman  at  their  head,  to  vote 
unanimously  for  the  Episcopalian  candidates,  who  were 
generally  successful,  and  that  in  London  '  the  Presbyterian 
or  sectarian  candidates  failed  '  mainly  owing  to  the  influence 
of  Bishop  Compton.1  Dr.  Granville  proposed  to  tell  his 
people  how  to  vote  in  church.2 

Another  circumstance  which  brought  the  clergy  into 
close  relation  with  social  life  was  the  thorough  harmony  of 
the  spirit  of  the  Church's  teaching  with  the  popular  feel 
ing  on  the  subject  of  amusements.  Nothing  had  served 
more  to  disgust  the  majority  of  Englishmen  with  the 
Puritans  than  their  discountenance  of  those  recreations 
which  had  made  England  '  merrie  England.'  The  Church 
had  always  been  a  friend  to  innocent  recreation,  and  the 
experience  of  twelve  years  of  Puritan  rule  naturally  tended 
to  emphasise  her  teaching  on  this  point.  One  of  her 
greatest  preachers  thoroughly  represented  her  spirit  when 
he  said,  '  Christianity  is  not  so  tetrical,  so  harsh,  so  envious 
as  to  bar  us  from  innocent  pleasure.'3  Those  who  wrote 
against  the  selfish,  frivolous,  and  pleasure-loving  spirit  of 
the  time  are  most  careful  to  guard  against  the  supposition 
that  they  disallowed  amusements,— even  some  which  would 
now  be  regarded  as  questionable.  No  one,  e.g.,  will  accuse 

1  History  of  England,  principally  in  the  seventeenth  Century,  L.  von 
Eanke,  v.  p.  90. 

2  See  Granville's  Remains,  Part  L,  pp.  196-7. 

2  Isaac  Barrow—  Sermon  Against  Foolish  Talking  and  Jesting, 


312         LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

the  pious  Robert  Nelson  of  being  over-lax,  either  in  his 
principles  or  his  practice ;  and  yet,  under  certain  restric 
tions,  he  admits  the  lawfulness  of  gambling.1  Mary  Astell, 
though  she  was  accused  of  encouraging  asceticism  in  her 
proposed  Protestant  Nunnery,  declares  that  her  institution 
would  'not  only  permit  but  recommend  harmless  and 
ingenious  diversions,  particularly  such  as  might  refresh  the 
body  without  enervating  the  mind.'  Dr.  Wells,  in  his 
stirring  appeal  to  rich  idlers  to  divert  some  of  the  money 
they  spent  upon  their  pleasures  to  the  building  of  churches, 
is  careful  to  add,  '  I  desire  the  reader  well  to  observe  that 
I  do  by  no  means  go  about  to  affirm  that  a  gentleman 
ought  not  to  please  himself  at  all  with  horse-racing  or 
hunting  &c.  They  are  all  very  innocent  and  allowable, 
when  used  with  due  moderation.'2  Dean  Granville,  in 
drawing  up  the  most  strict  and  even  austere  rules  for  his 
household,  allows  « playing  at  cards  between  All-Hallow 
Day  and  Candlemas.' 3  John  Scott,  who  certainly  took  a 
very  high  standard  of  Christian  duty  in  his  '  Christian 
Life,'  admits  that  *  we  are  not  obliged  to  be  so  industrious 
in  our  calling  as  to  deny  ourselves  any  moderate  refresh 
ments  or  recreations,  which  are  not  only  useful,  but  some 
times  necessary  to  breath  our  spirits  after  they  have  been 
almost  stifled  in  a  cloud  of  business,  and  divert  our  wearied 
thoughts,  which,  like  the  strings  of  a  lute,  by  being  slack 
ened  now  and  then,  will  sound  the  sweeter  when  they  are 
wound  up  again.' 4  Whether  right  or  wrong,  there  was 
certainly  a  general  opinion  that  the  Puritan  objection  to 
amusement  was  founded  on  other  grounds  besides  those  of 
Christian  duty — an  opinion  which  found  a  vivid  expression 
in  the  mock  controversy  on  bear-baiting  in  '  Hudibras '  (Part 
II.,  Canto  I.). 

1  See  Preface  to  the  Practice  of  True  Devotion. 

2  The  Rich  Man's  Duty  to  contribute  liberally  to  the  Building  <&c.  of 
Churches,  p.  144. 

3  Remains,  Part  II.,  p.  153.  *  Christian  Life,  i.  p.  279. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  313 

The  part  which  the  clergy  themselves  might  lawfully  take 
in  the  amusements  they  did  not  condemn  was  a  point  011 
which  opinions  differed.  Some  even  of  the  higher  clergy  felt 
no  scruple  about  joining  heartily  in  recreations  which  would 
now  be  generally  considered  unclerical.  Bishop  Juxon,  who 
was  universally  respected,  not  only  much  delighted  in  hunt 
ing,  but  'kept  a  pack  of  hounds,  and  had  them  so  well  ordered 
and  hunted,  chiefly  by  his  own  skill  and  direction,  that  they 
exceeded  all  other  hounds  in  England  for  the  pleasure  and 
orderly  hunting  of  them.'1  Bishop  Seth  Ward's  partiality 
to  the  same  amusement  is  described  in  a  most  lively  fashion 
by  his  biographer.  '  Sometimes  we  by  chance  chopt  upon 
the  dogs,  and  sometimes  by  my  contrivance,  knowing  where 
abouts  they  intended  to  hunt,  but  however  and  whensoever  it 
happened,  the  bishop  would  ride  a  ring  or  two  very  briskly, 
but  when  it  came  to  picking  work,  or  cold  hunting,  he  would 
leave  them  and  proceed  in  his  Promenade  ;  but  first  I  was 
sent  to  invite  all  the  gentlemen  to  dine  with  him,  whether 
he  knew  them  or  not ;  and  this  not  once  only,  but  toties 
quoties,  as  long  as  his  health  permitted.' 2  But  the  great 
Stillingfleet  thought  differently.  There  is  a  most  interesting 
pamphlet  by  Josiah  Frampton,  expressing  Stillingfleet' s 
views  on  clerical  amusements,  which,  as  it  is  little  known, 
and  as  the  opinions  of  such  a  man  as  Stillingfleet  on  any 
subject  are  valuable,  is  worth  quoting  at  some  length.  In 
1686,  Stillingfleet,  then  Dean  of  S.  Paul's,  was  staying  at  a 
country  house  at  which  Frampton,  then  a  young  curate,  was 
also  a  visitor.  '  We  were  sitting  one  day,'  writes  Frampton, 
'  together  after  dinner,  and  the  dean  began  to  rally  me  a 
little  on  my  attachment  to  country  diversions,  on  which  he 
knew  I  had  a  weak  side.  I  had  brought  him  two  young 

1  Whitelocke's  Memorials,  p.  24,  quoted  in  Marsh's  Memoirs  of  Arch 
bishop  Juxon  and  his  Times.     See  also  Dean  Hook's  Lives  of  the  Arch 
bishops  of  Canterbury, '  William  Juxon,'  vol.  vi.  p.  421 ;  also  Lord  Campbell's 
Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancellors,  iv.  p.  7,  note.    Juxon's  hunting  days  were  over 
before  the  Restoration,  but  he  clearly  represented  the  mind  of  that  period. 

2  Life  of  Seth  Ward,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  by  Dr.  Walter  Pope,  p.  74. 


3^4        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

partridges  that  day  for  his  dinner,  and  he  began  by  express 
ing  his  obligation  to  me  for  my  attention  to  him,  and  then 
asked  me  some  questions  which  led  me  to  give  him  an 
account  of  my  day's  exploits.  I  did  not  see  his  drift,  and, 
in  the  spirit  of  a  sportsman,  told  him  that  the  late  rainy 
season  had  made  game  very  scarce,  that  the  two  covies  from 
which  I  had  shot  the  brace  I  had  brought  to  him  were  the 
only  birds  I  had  seen  the  whole  day  though  I  had  been  out 
from  five  in  the  morning  till  twelve  noon,  and  had  walked 
upwards  of  fifteen  miles.  '  Well/  said  the  dean,  with  an 
affected  gravity  of  countenance,  '  I  only  wished  to  know  the 
extent  of  my  obligation  to  you ;  and  I  find  your  philan 
thropy  has  clone  more  for  me  in  giving  me  seven  hours  of 
your  time  than  I  could  have  done  (even  were  I  able  to  walk 

as  you  can)  for  any  man  in  Christendom I  have 

often  thought  that  the  clergy  have  rather  impaired  the  re 
spectability  of  their  character  by  mixing  too  much  with  the 
amusements  of  laymen.  They  not  only  get  into  a  trifling 
way  of  spending  their  time,  but  by  making  themselves  cheap 
they  dimmish  the  weight  of  their  instructions.'  After  dwell 
ing  on  this  point,  the  dean  thus  limits  clerical  amusement : 
'  It  should  intend  the  exercise  of  the  body  and  the  recreation 
of  the  mind,  and  should  be  suited  to  the  genius  of  the  pro 
fession.'  By  these  limits,  '  riotous  and  cruel  amusements  are 
excluded,  and  among  these  I  give  the  first  rank  to  hunting, 
which  is  both,  and  the  next  to  shooting.  To  speak  plainly, 
I  cordially  allow  no  amusement  to  a  clergyman  that  has 
anything  to  do  with  shedding  blood.'  He  is  then  asked 
about  fishing.  'I  am  afraid,'  replied  the  dean,  '  I  shall  be 
thought  too  rigid  if  I  abridge  a  clergyman  of  this  amusement. 
Only  I  absolutely  enjoin  him  not  to  impale  worms  on  his 
hook,  but  to  fish  either  with  an  artificial  fly  or  a  dead  bait ; 
if  he  like  fishing  with  a  net  I  approve  it  more,  but  still  I 
cannot  bring  myself  to  recommend  any  amusement  to  him 
which  arises  from  destroying  life.'  Cock-fighting  and  horse- 
racing  he  absolutely  taboos.  He  does  not  object  to  card- 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  315 

playing  in  itself,  but  fears  '  the  lust  of  it  is  so  great  that  a 
clergyman  should  dread  to  sanction  what  has  certainly  so 
bad  an  effect  on  the  manners  of  the  people.'     He  is  next 
asked  about  the  playhouse.     '  What  a  noble   institution,' 
said  the  dean,  '  have  we  here  !      I  know  of  nothing  that  is 
better  calculated  for  moral  instruction,  nothing  that  holds 
the  glass  more  forcibly  to  the  follies  and  vices  of  mankind. 
I  would  have  it  go  hand-in-hand  with  the  pulpit.     I  should 
encourage  comedy  more  than  tragedy,  inasmuch  as  I  should 
have  more  hope  of  curing  such  vices  and  follies  as  require  the 
lash  than  such  as  require  the  gibbet.     In  my  Utopia  I  mean 
to  establish  two  theatres,  one  for  the  higher,  the  other  for 
the  lower  orders  of  the  community.     But  the  drama  of  the 
present  age  has  nothing  less  in  its  view  than  good  morals ; 
and  clergy  cannot   well,   I  think,  be    innocent  spectators 
as  the  stage  is  now  managed.'     The  curate  then  asks  him 
about  '  Dancing  Assemblies  and  cheerful  meetings  of  other 
kinds.'     '  As  they  are  at  present  managed,'  said  the  dean, 
'  so  far  as  I  am  acquainted  with  them,  I  should  hardly  allow 
a  clergyman  to  attend  any  of  them.     Put  them  under  my 
regulations  and  he  may  attend  them  all.     Summon  an  as 
sembly  when  you  please,  at  some  private  house.     Public 
houses  always   lead  to  promiscuous   company  and  intem 
perance.    Let  the  meeting  consist  of  well-educated  and  well- 
disposed  young  people  of  both  sexes,  and  when  the  music 
strikes  up  and  the   dance  begins,  send  for  me,  and  I  will 
hobble  away  as  fast  as  my  gouty  feet  will  allow,  and  if  I  may 
be  permitted  quietly  to  occupy  a  corner  of  the  room  in  an 
elbow  chair,  I  shall  enjoy  the  scene  as  much  as  any  of  you. 
To  see  youth  and  innocence  made  happy  amidst  such  amuse 
ments  as  are  suitable  to  them  always  gives  a  new  joy  to  my 
philanthropy ;    which   is  as    suddenly  injured  when  I  see 
them  entangled  in  pleasures  which  I  cannot  but  look  upon 
as  secret  snares  for  their  innocence.'    Biding  he  strongly  re 
commends.    '  The  very  trot  of  a  horse  is  friendly  to  thought. 
It  beats  time  as  it  were  to  a  mind  engaged  in  deep  specula- 


3l6        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

tion.'  Carpentering  and  turning  are  also  advised,  and  then 
follows  a  remark  which  should  gladden  the  heart  of  clerical 
tennis-players,  as  it  stamps  by  anticipation  this  favourite 
recreation  with  the  approval  of  one  of  our  greatest  divines. 
1  Curate  :  I  am  afraid,  sir,  you  will  laugh  at  me  for  being  fond 
of  shuttlecock.  Dean  :  Laugh  at  you  !  No  !  I.  respect  the 
man  who  invented  shuttlecock.' ! 

The  Sunday  question  was  another  matter  on  which  the 
teaching  of  the  Church  harmonised  with  popular  feeling. 
There  was  a  very  marked  difference  between  the  stand 
points  of  churchmen  before  and  after  the  Bebellion.  No 
attempt  was  made  after  the  Bestoration  to  reintroduce  the 
Book  of  Sports ;  and  such  books  as  Heylin's  *  History  of  the 
Sabbath,'  or  Bishop  White  of  Ely's  '  Treatise  of  the  Sabbath 
Day,'  Dr.  Prideaux's  (Begius  Professor  of  Divinity  at  Oxford) 
'  Doctrine  of  the  Sabbath,'  Dr.  Sanderson's  '  Case  of  the  Sab 
bath  '  in  his  '  Cases  of  Conscience,'  were  succeeded  by  works 
which  were  certainly  written  from  a  very  different  point  of 
view.  Not  that  Sabbatarianism  pure  and  simple  was  advo 
cated  in  any  of  them.  They  all  admitted  that  the  Christian 
Lord's  day  was  a  different  thing  altogether  from  the  Jewish 
Sabbath.  Worship,  not  rest,  was  the  key-note  of  their 
teaching ;  but  for  worship  rest  was  needed,  and  therefore 
they  pleaded  for  rest  on  the  weekly  Christian  festival, 
rightly  associating  it  (though  putting  it  on  a  higher  level) 
with  other  Christian  Holy- days.  This  is  the  line  taken  by 
Jeremy  Taylor :  '  The  Jews  had  a  divine  commandment  for 
their  day,  which  we  have  not  for  ours ;  but  we  have  many 
commandments  to  do  all  that  honour  to  God  which  was 
intended  in  the  fourth  Commandment,  and  the  Apostles 
appointed  the  first  day  of  the  week  for  doing  it  in  solemn 

assemblies The  Gospel   Sabbath  or  rest  is  but  a 

circumstance  and  accessory  to  the  principal  and  spiritual 

1  On  the  Amusements  of  Clergymen  and  Christians  in  general.  Three 
Dialogues  between  a  Dean  and  a  Citrate.  From  the  MSS.  of  Dr.  Josiah 
Frampton,  bought  by  Dr.  Edwards. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  317 

duties.' ]  To  the  same  effect,  John  Scott :  '  As  for  the 
Lord's  Day,  it  is  instituted,  and  ever  since  the  Apostles' 
time  hath  been  observed  in  the  Christian  Church  as  a  day 
of  public  worship  and  weekly  thanksgiving  for  Our  Saviour's 
Resurrection .  And  certainly  it  must  needs  be  of  vast  ad 
vantage  to  be  one  day  in  seven  sequestered  from  the  world 
and  employed  in  divine  offices.' 2  So,  Bishop  Stillingfleet 
charges  his  clergy  in  1698  :  '  The  religious  observation  of 
the  Lord's  Day  is  no  novelty  started  by  some  late  sects 
and  parties  among  us,  but  hath  been  the  general  sense  of 
the  best  part  of  the  Christian  world,  and  is  particularly  en 
forced  upon  us  of  the  Church  of  England,  not  only  by  the 
Homilies  but  by  the  most  ancient  ecclesiastical  law  among 
us.' 3  Dean  Comber  in  reply  to  a  clergyman  who  had  con 
sulted  him  in  1673,  gives  four  sensible  '  reasons  for  observing 
the  Lord's  day,  though  no  Sabbath.' 4  Great  stress  was 
laid  upon  the  interpretation  of  the  fourth  Commandment  in 
the  Church  Catechism,  '  and  serve  him  truly  all  the  days  of 
my  life."  Thus  Hammond,  who,  though  he  wrote  a  little 
before  the  Kestoration,  closely  represents  the  'post-Bestora- 
tion  teaching,  interpreted  the  Sabbath  rest  as  ceasing  the 
whole  life  from  sin,  and  devoting  one  day  in  the  week  to 
worship.5  Bishop  Sparrow,  while  carefully  distinguishing 
between  the  Sabbath  and  the  Lord's  day,  maintains  that 
there  was  at  least  an  analogy  between  the  two  days,  though 
he  rightly  lays  stress  upon  the  festival  character  of  the 
latter  day,  and  treats  of  it  in  close  connection  with  other 
Christian  festivals.6 

Without  entering  into  any  controversy  with  one  another 
on  the  point,  different  divines  clearly  held  different  opinions 
about  the  lawfulness,  or  rather  the  expediency,  of  any 
recreations  on  the  Lord's  day,  though  all  agreed  that  they 

Holy  Living.    Works,  vol.  iv.  pp.  21-1-5.          2  Christian  Life,  i.  p.  293. 

Ecclesiastical  Cases  d'c.,  p.  197. 

See  Memoirs  of  Dean  Comber,  p.  70. 

Practical  Catccliism,  p.  186. 

A  Rationale  upon  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  p.  67. 


31 8        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

were  absolutely  unlawful  during  the  hours  of  divine  service. 
Bevericlge,  at  least  in  his  early  years,  maintained  that  the 
Lord's  day  was  profaned  by  any  recreation ;  1  Lancelot 
Addison  teaches  his  catechumen  to  say,  '  The  fourth  Com 
mandment  requires  me  to  keep  holy  all  such  days  which  are 
separated  from  a  common  to  a  religious  use.  On  the  Lord's 
Day  I  have  been  taught  that  I  am  forbidden  all  worldly 
undertakings  and  employments,  vain  sports  and  recreations, 
and  all  actions  but  those  of  piety,  mercy,  necessity,  and 
decency.' 2  Dean  Hickes  protests  against  the  *  profaners  of 
the  Lord's  Day,  which  is  set  aside  for  public  worship,'  and 
does  not  limit  the  profanation  to  the  times  of  worship.3  One 
of  Bishop  Racket's  questions  in  his  Articles  of  Visitation  in 
1668  is,  '  Do  they  engage  in  bodily  labours  on  Sundays  and 
Holy  days  ? '  without  any  mention  of  the  hours  of  divine 
service.  Bishop  Atterbury  recounts  with  evident  approval, 
that  Lady  Cutts  made  the  whole  of  the  Lord's  day  a  day  of 
rest.4 

On  the  other  hand,  we  have  the  great  name  of  Bramhall 
strongly,  almost  indignantly,  on  the  side  of  those  who  per 
mitted  Sunday  recreations,5  though  he  insists  upon  aposto 
lical,  if  not  divine,  authority  for  the  observance  of  the  Lord's 
day.*5  Two  other  great  names,  those  of  Thorndike  and 

1  Private  Thoughts  (vol.  viii.  of   Works,  in  Library  of  Anglo-Catholic 
Theology),  Part  I.,  p.  356. 

2  The  Christian's  Manual,  p.  33. 

3  Posthumous  Discourses  by  Dean  G.  Hickes,  published  by  N.  Spinclces, 
p.  341. 

4  Atterbury's  Sermons,  vol.  i.  p.  210.     Sermon  VI.,  on  the  Death  of  Lady 
Cutts. 

4  '  If  Mr.  Baxter  think  that  no  recreations  of  the  body  at  all  are  lawful, 
or  may  be  permitted  on  the  Lord's  Day,  he  may  call  himself  a  catholic  if 
he  please,  but  he  will  find  very  few  churches  of  any  communion  whatsoever, 
old  or  new,  reformed  or  unreformed,  to  bear  him  company.  No,  no,  even 
among  the  churches  of  his  own  communion,  &c.'  (Bishop  Bramhall's 
Vindication,  &c.'  (1672),  p.  155.) 

6  '  What  was  the  authority  by  which  this  change  from  the  seventh  day 
to  the  first  was  made?  If  not  by  our  Lord's  authority,  at  least  by  that  of 
the  Apostles.  It  is  undeniable  the  Lord's  Day  is  an  apostolical  tradition.' 
(See  Dr.  Hessey's  Bampton  Lectures.  1860,  Sunday,  Lecture  I.,  p.  14.) 


THE  CHURCH  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  319 

Cosin,  are  on  the  same  side,  both  also  basing  the  authority 
of  Lord's  day  observance  on  apostolical  custom.  Simon 
Lowth  only  stipulates  that  there  shall  be  no  secular  work 
'  at  the  appointed  times  of  God's  service.'  '  Dr.  Edward  Lake 
advised  his  spiritual  protegee,  the  Princess  of  Orange,  to 
abstain  from  card-playing  on  Sunday,  but  '  I  told  her,'  he 
adds,  *  I  could  not  say  'twas  a  sin  to  do  so,  but  'twas  not 
expedient,  for  fear  of  giving  offence.' 2  In  fact,  it  was  as  a 
matter  of  expediency,  not  as  a  matter  of  principle,  that  most 
of  the  Anglican  divines,  whether  pre-Restoration  or  post- 
Restoration,  regarded  this  vexed  question ;  they  agreed  on 
some  sort  of  observance  of  the  Lord's  day  ;  they  agreed  in- 
thinking  that  the  day  was  utterly  different  from  the 
Jewish  Sabbath.  But  they  naturally  gave  prominence  to 
one  or  other  side  of  the  Church's  teaching,  according  to 
the  circumstances  by  which  they  were  surrounded.  When 
Puritanism  was  in  the  ascendant,  they  protested  against 
Sabbatarianism ;  when  the  reaction  set  in,  and  the  Court 
and  its  purlieus  set  the  bad  example  of  Sunday  desecration,  of 
which  the  ghastly  account  of  Charles  II. 's  last  Sunday  on 
earth  gives  so  terrible  a  picture,  they  dwelt  rather  on  the 
positive  side  of  the  Church's  teaching  on  the  subject. 
And  Puritans  themselves,  or  at  any  rate  nonconformists, 
modified  their  utterances  on  the  Sunday  question.  Dr. 
Watts  takes  exactly  the  same  line  as  the  Anglican  divines ;  3 
while  Chillingworth  actually  found  some  difficulty  in  con 
forming  because  the  ante- Communion  service  implied  that 
'  the  fourth  Commandment  was  a  law  of  God  binding  upon 
Christians.'  4 

The  most  striking  contrast  between  the  earlier  and  later 
Stuart  periods  in  regard  to  Sunday  is  to  be  found,  not  in 

1  Catechetical  Questions,  1673. 

2  Diary  of  Dr.  Ed.  Lake  (1677-8),  p.  22. 

3  See  Southey's  Memoirs  of  Dr.  Watts,  prefixed  to  the  Lyric  Poems. 
On  the  Sabbath,  p.  xxxv. 

4  See  Dr.  Tulloch's  Rational  Theology,  i.  p.  285. 


32O        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

the  writings  of  divines,  but  in  royal  and  parliamentary 
utterances.  James  I.  insisted  on  manly  exercises  on  the 
Sunday,  among  other  reasons,  *  lest  the  youth  should 
grow  up  unfit  for  warriors.'  '  Charles  I.  reissued  his 
father's  Book  of  Sports,  '  out  of  pious  care  for  the  service 
of  God,'  &c.2  But  Charles  II.  had  hardly  been  three  years 
upon  the  throne  when  a  Bill  passed  both  Houses  of  Parlia 
ment  '  for  the  better  observance  of  the  Sabbath,'  but  was 
mysteriously  missing  when  it  should  have  received  the 
royal  assent.3  Pepys  tells  us,  on  September  14,  1662,  that 
'  the  Bishop  of  London  had  given  a  very  strict  order 
against  boats  going  on  Sundays,'  and  on  September  20, 
1663,  that  a  proclamation  had  been  read  against  Sunday 
travelling.  In  1690  Queen  Mary  '  forbade  all  hackney 
carriages  and  horses  to  work  on  Sundays,  and  had  con 
stables  stationed  at  the  corners  of  the  streets  to  capture  all 
puddings  on  their  way  to  bakers'  ovens  on  Sundays,'4  but 
this  was  outrunning  public  opinion,  and  an  embryo  riot 
caused  the  law  to  be  immediately  suspended.  In  1677 
a  parliamentary  statute  prohibited  all  travelling  and  trading 
on  the  Lord's  day,  and  all  through  the  latter  part  of  our 
period,  magistrates,  goaded  on  by  the  Societies  for  the 
Reformation  of  Manners,  were  very  active  in  putting  down 
Sunday  desecration.5  As  in  many  other  cases,  our  divines 
were  more  liberal  than  their  lay  brethren.  The  general 
position  taken  up  by  them  was  more  tenable  than  that 
either  of  the  Puritans  or  their  antagonists  in  the  early  part 

1  See  Hook's  Lives  of  Arclibisliops  of  Canterbury  :  Laud.    Vol.  xi.  p.  40. 
-  Collier's  Ecclesiastical  History,  viii.  p.  77. 

3  History  of  England  continued  from  Sir  James  Mackintosh's  (Cabinet 
Cyclopaedia),  vii.  p.  31. 

4  Miss  Strickland's  Lives  of  the  Queens  of  England:  Mary  II.  Vol.  vi. 
p.  33. 

5  See  Disney's  Essay  upon  the  execution  of  the  Laws  against  Immorality 
and  Profaneness.     '  Seldom,'  writes  an  anonymous  pamphleteer  in  1711, 
'  has  greater  vigilance  been  used  by  the  civil  magistrate  to  secure  a  reli 
gious  observance  of  the  Lord's  Day.'     (The  Nation  vindicated  from  the 
Aspersions  cast  upon  it  in  Representation  of  the  present  State  of  Religion.) 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  32! 

of  the  seventeenth  century.  They  steered  clear  of  the 
Scylla  of  confounding  the  Lord's  day  with  the  Sabbath, 
and  of  the  Charybdis  of  making  too  light  of  the  sacred 
character  of  the  weekly  Christian  festival. 

The  connection  between  the  clergy  and  the  Royal  Society 
was  another  point  in  which  the  Church  very  decidedly 
affected  one  section  at  least  of  the  social  life  of  the  period. 
Different  writers  differ  a  little  as  to  the  origin  of  this  great 
institution,1  but  all  are  agreed  about  this,  that  distinguished 
churchmen,  lay  and  clerical,  wrere  among  its  earliest  sup 
porters  and  brightest  ornaments ;  the  names  of  the  two 
Wrens  (Matthew  and  Christopher),  John  Wilkins,  Seth  Ward, 
Eobert  Boyle,  Ralph  Bathurst,  Thomas  Willis,  John  Pearson, 
Joseph  Glanvill,  and  Wallis,  need  only  be  mentioned  to  shew 
this.  Indeed,  Eachard's  opponent  did  not  exaggerate  when 
he  affirmed  that  '  a  great  part  of  the  discoveries  of  the 
Society  up  to  that  time  (1671)  were  owing  to  ecclesiastical 
persons.' 

It  is  true  that  there  was  also .  some  opposition  on  the 
part  of  some  churchmen  to  the  new  institution.  One  is 
sorry  to  know  that  the  great  name  of  Robert  South  must 
be  counted  among  its  opponents;  he  ridiculed  it  in  that 
very  character  in  which  he  ought  to  have  been  its  pane 
gyrist,  viz.  as  Public  Orator  of  the  great  University  where 
the  Society  had  been  nourished  in  its  infancy,  if  not  actually 
born.2  The  author  of  '  Hudibras  '  also,  who  in  his  way  was 

1  Bishop  Sprat  (History  of  the  Royal  Society,  1667)  traces  its  rise  to 
'  some  space  after  the  end  of  the  Civil  War  at  Oxford,  in  Dr.  Wilkins  his 
Lodgings  in  Wadham  College.'     Dr.  Birch  thinks  '  we  may  go  still  farther 
back  for  the  origin,    on  the  authority  of  Dr.  Wallis,  one  of  its  earliest  and 
most  considerable  members.     About  1645,  several  worthy  persons  residing  in 
London  met  weekly,'  &c.     (See  Diary  and  Correspondence  of  Dr.  J.  Worthing  - 
ton,  p.  246,  note.   Also  Von  Ranke's  History  of  England  d~c.,  iii.  p.  582,  Weld's 
History  of  the  Royal  Society  (1848),  i.  p.  30.)     Professor  Craik  is  no  doubt 
correct  in  saying  there  were  two  Societies,  one  at  Oxford,  one,  earlier  still,  in 
London,  during  the  Commonwealth.     The  Charter  for  the  Eoyal  Society 
proper  was  given  in  1672.     (See  Craik's  Compendious  History  of  English 
Literature,  ii.  p.  158  &c.) 

2  See  South's  Latin  Oration  at  the  opening  of  the  Sheldonian  Theatre, 

Y 


322        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

a  very  strong  churchman,  reserved  some  of  his  shafts  of 
ridicule  for  the  new  Society,  and  the  most  vehement  and 
extravagant  of  all  its  opponents,  Henry  Stubbs,  a  Bath 
physician,  grounded  his  opposition  partly  on  the  absurd 
assumption  that  the  Society  '  intended  to  destroy  the  estab 
lished  religion,  and  introduce  Popery  in  its  stead.'  l  But 
these  were  exceptional  cases.  The  preponderance  of  Church 
opinion  was  certainly  on  the  side  of  the  rector  of  Bath,  Mr. 
Glanvill,  who  demurred  to  the  dismal  anticipations  of  his 
parishioner,  and  agreed  with  the  thesis  of  Eobert  Boyle's 
'  Christian  Virtuoso,'  shewing  '  that  by  being  addicted  to  ex 
perimental  philosophy,  a  man  is  rather  assisted  than  indis 
posed  to  be  a  good  Christian.'  In  short,  the  Church  was 
abreast  if  not  ahead  of  popular  opinion  in  regard  to  natural 
science. 

The  same  cause  which  rendered  it  difficult  to  appraise 
the  social  position  of  the  clergy,  renders  it  also  difficult  to 
determine  the  extent  to  which  they  mixed  in  social  life. 
The  vast  gap  which  divided  different  classes  of  clergy  pro 
bably  accounts  for  the  fact  that  we  have  complaints  of  a 
diametrically  opposite  character  on  this  point.  On  the  one 
hand,  e.g.,  Granville  complains  in  his  Visitation  Charge, 
1675,  that  '  clergy  make  themselves  too  cheap  and  con 
temptible  by  mean  conversation  at  feasts  &c.,  without  doing 
or  receiving  spiritual  advantage,  by  handling  the  plough 
and  spade  more  than  the  Bible,  by  frequenting  markets 
and  fairs,  horse-races  and  hunting ;  ' 2  and  an  anonymous 
writer  in  1714  thinks  *  it  is  a  thing  altogether  undecent  to  see 
so  many  preachers  of  the  Gospel  haunting  and  crowding  the 
Parliament  Lobbies  and  Ante-chambers  of  Lay  Assemblies, 
whispering  here  and  buzzing  there,  and  as  busie  as  bees.' 3 

July  9,  1669,  of  the  members  of  the  Royal  Society  he  says  *  Mirantur  nihil 
nisi  pulices  pediculoses — et  se  ipsos.' 

1  See  Birch's  Life  of  Robert  Boyle,  p.  189  &c. 

2  Remains,  Part  II.,  p.  20. 

3  A  Letter  from  one  Clergyman  to  another  concerning  Ministers  inter 
meddling  with  State  affairs. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  *2* 

o    o 

On  the  other  hand  Swift  '  cannot  but  think  that  through  a 
mistaken  notion  and  practice,  the  clergy  prevent  themselves 
from  doing  much  service  which  otherwise  might  lie  in 
their  power,  to  religion  and  virtue,  by  affecting  so  much 
to  converse  with  each  other,  and  caring  so  little  to  mingle 
with  the  laity.  They  have,'  he  says,  '  their  particular  clubs 
and  particular  coffee-houses,  where  they  generally  appear 
in  clusters ;  a  single  divine  dares  hardly  shew  his  person 
among  numbers  of  fine  gentlemen,  or  if  he  falls  into  such 
company  is  silent  and  suspicious,  in  continual  apprehension 
that  some  pert  man  of  pleasure  should  break  an  unmannerly 
jest  and  render  him  ridiculous.' 1  To  the  same  effect  one 
of  Burnet's  opponents  writes  :  '  The  clergy  would  be  better 
qualified  for  their  office  if  they  were  more  acquainted  with 
the  laity  and  with  secular  affairs.  It  is  their  herding  together f 
and  not  conversing  enough  with  the  world,  that  makes 
many  of  them  often  judge  and  act  so  oddly  as  they  do. 
Where  should  the  Physician  be  but  with  the  sick  ? '  &c.2 
These  absurdly  contradictory  indictments  may  easily  be 
reconciled  by  supposing  that  the  writers  were  thinking  of  very 
different  classes  of  clergy. 

One  circumstance  which  would  draw  attention  alike  to 
the  banding  together  of  clerical  cliques  and  the  mixing  of 
clergy  in  unclerical  assemblies,  was  the  fact  that  clergymen 
were  wont  to  wear  in  public  the  canonical  habit ;  that  is, 
the  -habit  prescribed  by  the  74th  Canon.  It  was  of  course 
disused  during  the  Kebellion,  but  resumed  at  once  on  the 
Eestoration,  and  though  at  first,  as  Bramhall  complains, 
'  those  who  wore  canonical  habits  and  walked  in  cassocks 
and  girdles,  were  taken  for  pensioners  to  his  Holiness,' 3 
the  prejudice  soon  wore  off ;  laxity,  not  Protestantism,  was 

1  Project  for  the  Advancement  of  Religion  and  Reformation  of  Manners. 

•  An  Impartial  Examination  of  Bishop  BurneVs  History  of  his  Own 
Times,  by  Mr.  Salmon,  ii.  p.  733. 

3  Vindication  of  himself  and  the  Episcopal  Clergy  from  Presbyterian 
charge  of  Popery  by  Baxter  d'c.  (1672).    Preface. 

y  2 


324        LIFE    IX    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

the  cause  why  the  dress  was  sometimes  abandoned.  Gran- 
ville  mentions  as  a  proof  of  the  secularity  of  some  of  the 
clergy,  that  they  were  '  scarcely  distinguished  from  the 
laity  so  much  as  by  their  habit.'  '  Stillingfleet  thinks 
'  it  argues  lightness  for  a  clergyman  to  wear  a  lay  habit,' 
and  wishes  '  he  could  be  obliged  to  wear  a  short  cassock 
under  his  coat.'  The  canonical  dress  was  clearly  the 
rule.  Among  some  visitation  inquiries  in  1678,  are : 

*  Doth  your  parson  wear  such  apparel  as  is  prescribed  by 
the  Canon,  that  is,  a   gown  with  a  standing  collar,  and 
wide  sleeves  strait  at  the  hands,  and  a  square  cap  ?    or 
doth  he  go  at  any  time  abroad  in  his  doublet  and  hose  ? 
or  doth  he  use  to  wear  any  light-coloured  stockings  ?  in 
his  journeyings,  doth  he  usually  wear  a  cloak  with  sleeves, 
commonly  called  the  priest's  cloak  ?  '   &c.      Eachard  com 
plains  of  '  the  young  spark  tossing  his  head  at  a  clergyman 
because  he  is  obliged  to  wear  the  same  canonical  habit.' 2 
The  custom  naturally  lingered  on  longer  and  was  more 
rigorously  observed  in  London  than  in  the  country.     Thus, 
while  Trimmell,  Bishop  of  Norwich,  declared  in  1710  that 

*  the  habit  particularly  recommended  by  the  Canon  was  out 
of  use,'3  Swift,  writing  about  the  same  time  of  the  London 
clergy,  says  :  '  the  clergy  are  the  only  set  of  men  among  us 
who  constantly  wear  a  distinct  habit  from  others ;  the  con 
sequence  of  which  (not  in  reason,  but  in  fact),  is  this,  that 
as  long  as  any  scandalous  persons  appear  in  that  dress,  it 
will  continue  in  some  degree  a  general  mark  of  contempt. 
Whoever  happens  to  see  a  scoundrel  in  a  gown  reeling  home 
at  midnight  (a  sight  neither  frequent  nor  miraculous),  is 
apt  to  entertain  an  ill  idea  of  the  whole  order.'     He  thinks 
it  would  be  '  infinitely  better  if  all  the  clergy  (except  the 
bishops)  were  permitted  to  appear  like  other  men  of  the 
graver  sort,  unless  at  those  seasons  when  they  are  doing 

1  Remains,  Part  II.,  p.  45. 

2  Grounds  &c.  of  Contempt  of  the  Clergy,  p.  576. 

3  The  Bishop  of  Norwich's  Visitation  Charge,  1710, 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  325 

the  work  of  their  function.' l  At  the  same  time  Swift  him 
self,  '  whenever  he  went  abroad,  or  gave  audience  to  a 
stranger,  was  careful  to  appear  in  cassock  and  gown.' 2 
The  nonjuring  clergy  usually  walked  in  the  London  streets 
in  full  canonicals.  Dress  may  seem  a  slight  matter,  but  it 
is  a  straw  which  shews  which  way  the  wind  blows ;  and, 
especially  in  connection  with  social  life,  it  is  by  no  means 
without  significance. 

But  to  pass  on  to  a  graver  subject.  The  relation  of  the 
Church  to  social  life  is  obviously  affected  most  deeply  by 
the  state  of  Church  discipline.  The  efforts  to  revive  this 
powerful  engine  after  the  Eestoration  were  evidently  made 
in  a  not  very  hopeful  spirit ;  but  still  the  mere  fact  that 
efforts  were  made,  and  even  the  constant  iteration  of  com 
plaints  about  the  decay  of  discipline,  are  proofs  that  it  was 
not  entirely  dead.  And  facts  prove  that  it  was  not.  Pepys 
heard  on  July  16,  1665,  'a  declaration  of  penitence  of  a 
man  that  had  undergone  the  Churche's  censures,'  at  a 
church  near  London.  In  the  church  accounts  of  Gateshead 
for  1666-7,  one  entry  is,  'A  white  sheet  for  pennance, 
Is.  6d.' 3  Samuel  Wesley  gave  most  strict  directions  about 
discipline  to  his  curate  at  Ep worth,  telling  him  to  direct 
the  churchwardens  to  enforce  the  90th  Canon,  and  declaring 
that  he  had  always  brought  to  public  penance  ante-nuptial 
and  no-nuptial  fornicators.4  'In  the  parish  register  of 
Wadhurst,'  writes  the  accomplished  historian  of  the  diocese 
of  Chichester,  '  there  is  a  notice  in  1677-8  of  an  account  of 
ecclesiastical  discipline,  which  is  the  latest  example  of  the 

1  Project  for  the  Advancement  of  Religion  dx.,  pp.  95-96. 

2  See  Quarterly  Review,  No.  306,  for  April  1882.     Art.  Jonathan  Swift. 
See   also  Swift's  Argument  against  abolishing  Christianity  :    '  I  am  very 
sensible  how  much  the  gentlemen  of  wit  and  pleasure  are  apt  to  murmur 
and  be  shocked  at  the  sight  of  so  many  daggle-tailed  parsons,  who  happen 
to  fall  in  their  way  and  offend  their  eyes.' 

3  See  Appendix  on  the  History  of  Neivcastle  and  Gateshead,  in  Memoirs 
of  Ambrose  Barnes  (Surtees  Societj^),  p.  401. 

4  See  Tyerman's  Life  and  Times  of  Samuel  Wesley,  p.  387. 


326        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

kind  I  have  noticed  in  this  diocese.' 1  Bishop  Hacket  pub 
licly  excommunicated  the  Dean  of  Lichfield  in  1667. 2  One 
point  was  very  generally  insisted  upon ;  that  is,  the  payment 
of  commutation  money  for  penance.  This  was  rather  an 
evasion  of,  than  a  submission  to,  strict  discipline;  but 
still  the  fact  that  money  was  parted  with,  even  to  evade  it, 
is  a  proof  that  discipline  was  not  quite  dead.  Archbishop 
Sharp  wrote  to  a  clergyman  in  1704  about  the  money  com 
mutation  for  a  penance :  '  I  would  have  it  entirely  applied 
to  the  use  of  the  Church,  and  as  notoriously  as  her  offence  to 
it  hath  been.  If  you  are  of  opinion  that  this  fault  of  hers 
ought  not  to  be  commuted,  but  that  it  is  for  the  interest 
of  religion  that  she  should  do  a  personal  penance,  I  pray 
signify  it  to  me.' 3  Among  the  articles  of  inquiry  at  the 
Visitation  of  the  Bishop  of  Worcester  (Lloyd)  in  1705  are 
these :  '  Are  any  Commutations  of  Penance  made  by  any 
ecclesiastical  officer  ?  By  whom  ?  For  what  offences  ? 
For  what  pious  uses  hath  the  money  been  employed  ?  ' 
Bishop  Frampton  of  Gloucester  enjoined  his  clergy  '  if  any 
were  so  obstinate  as  to  refuse  to  hear  the  church,  to  let  them 
know  he  had  authority  to  deliver  such  a  one  to  Satan  that 
he  might  learn  not  to  blaspheam,'  and  was  not  afraid  to  act 
up  to  his  determination  in  the  case  of  a  powerful  peer,  Lord 
Wharton,  whom  he  compelled  to  pay  commutation  money.4 
Among  the  practical  agenda  of  Convocation  in  1710  one  was  : 
*  The  regulating  the  proceedings  in  excommunication  and 
reforming  the  abuses  of  commutation  money.' 5  In  1714 
the  subject  had  assumed  so  definite  a  shape  that  a  form  of 

1  Diocesan    Histories    (S.P.C.K.)      Selsey—Chicliester,    by   W.    K.   W. 
Stephens.     The  notice  is,  «  July  16.  Eleanora  Woodgate  et  Sarah  Moore  in 
ecclesia  parochiali  inter  divinorum  solemnia  palam,  publice  et  solemniter 
denunciatae  et  declaratas  fuerunt  pro  excommunicatis.'     And  then  '  E.  W.  et 
S.  M.  in  ecclesia  &c.  pcenitentiam  agebant.' 

2  See  Pepys'  Diary  for  January  17,  166J. 

8  Life  of  Archbishop  Sharp,  by  his  son,  i.  p.  213-4. 

4  See  Life  of  Robert  Frampton,  ed.  Evans,  p.  1G5  and  168. 

5  See    Lathbury's    History   of    Convocation,    p.     408,     and     Wilkins' 
Concilia  Magnce  Britannice,  iv.  p.  623. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  327 

excommunication  was  drawn  up  by  Convocation ; l  but  the 
matter,  like  many  other  matters,  fell  through,  owing  to  the 
death  of  the  queen. 

The  tone  of  Church  writers  on  the  subject  of  discipline 
during  our  period  is  not  sanguine,  but  it  is  not  hopeless. 
Bishop  Wilson,  indeed,  scouts  the  very  idea  that  it  cannot 
be  enforced  : — '  Discipline  impracticable  !  This  cannot  be, 
when  it  was  practised  for  so  many  years  in  the-  Primitive 
Church.  The  commands  of  Christ  cannot  be  impracticable. 
That  would  be  to  tax  him  with  ignorance  or  weakness.' 2 
The  good  bishop's  regimen  in  his  own  diocese  shewed  that 
discipline  could  be  made  a  very  real  thing  indeed  ;  but 
then,  of  course,  the  circumstances  of  the  Isle  of  Man 
differed  from  those  of  the  adjacent  Isle  of  Great  Britain. 
Bishop  Turner,  in  his  admirable  '  Letter  to  the  Clergy  of 
the  Diocese  of  Ely  '  (1686),  bids  them  'labour  in  sermons 
and  private  conferences  to  make  their  parishioners  deeply 
apprehend  the  great  and  heavy  load  which  the  just  censures 
of  the  Church  do  lay  upon  grievous  offenders  in  any 
kind,'  and  advises  them  to  read  'my  reverend  friend  Dr. 
Comber's  excellently  learned  and  no  very  long  Treatise  of 
Excommunication-.'  Dr.  Comber  has  no  difficulty  in 
shewing  in  this  work,  (1)  The  divine  original  of  Excom 
munication ;  (2)  The  universal  Practice;  (3)  The  ends 
for  which  it  was  instituted  ;  but  he  complains  that  '  the 
Schismatics  and  Profane,  the  Atheistical  and  those  who  are 
of  most  profligate  conversations,  do  all  conspire  to  make  the 
Church's  discipline  weak  and  ineffectual,'  and  his  general 
tone  gives  one  the  idea  that  he  thought  the  conspiracy  was 
successful.3  Atterbury,  in  the  dedication  of  his  Sermons  to 
his  staunch  friend  Bishop  Trelawney,  hopes  '  by  your  Lord- 

1  The  title  of  the  Form  was  :  '  An  Exhortation  to  be  read  in  the  church, 
when  the  person  decreed  to  be  excommunicated  is  present.'  Passages  in 
brackets  to  be  omitted  when  the  person  is  absent.  (See  Lathbury,  p.  436.) 

*  Sacra  Privata:  Thursday's  meditations. 

3  See  A  Discourse  concerning  Excommunication,  by  Thomas  Comber, 
Precentor  of  York  (1686), 


328        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

ship's  means,  and  within  the  circle  of  your  power,  to  see  all 
proper  steps  taken  towards  reviving  decayed  discipline,  and 
restoring  Church  Censures  to  their  due  force  and  credit.' 

The  wish  for  the  restoration  of  discipline  was  hy  no 
means  confined  to  high  churchmen.  Archbishop  Tenison 
suggested  to  King  William  the  necessity  of  preserving  and 
restoring  the  discipline  of  the  Church,  urged  the  clergy  to 
have  recourse  to  ecclesiastical  censures,  and  enjoined,  in 
the  king's  name,  '  that  no  commutation  for  Pennance  should 
be  made  but  by  the  express  order  and  direction  of  the 
bishop  himself,  which  should  be  declared  in  open  Court ; 
and  that  the  commutation  money  should  be  applied  only 
to  pious  and  charitable  uses.' l  Compton,  the  Protestant 
bishop,  made  Church  discipline  a  subject  of  one  of  his  very 
practical  letters  to  his  clergy ; 2  and,  grotesque  as  it  may 
sound,  Defoe,  the  dissenter,  desires,  evidently  in  all  sincerity, 
the  restoration  of  Church  discipline. 

Of  course  the  efficacy  of  Church  discipline  depends  upon 
the  value  men  set  upon  Church  privileges.  '  Penances, 
suspensions,  and  excommunications,'  writes  Dean  Hickes, 
'  ought  to  have  no  other  than  spiritual  effects ; ' 3  and  Dr. 
Comber  strongly  insists  upon  the  same  point.  Here 
lay  the  real  difficulty ;  and  the  churchmen  of  our  period, 
being  practical  men,  felt  it  keenly.  Bishop  Stillingfleet, 
who  generally  contrived  to  hit  the  right  nail  on  the  head, 
replied  to  Archbishop  Tenison's  Injunction  quoted  above : 
'  Suspension  and  Excommunication  doth  but  drive  them  out 
of  the  Church,  and  they  care  very  little  for  coming  at  it.' 4 
Deaai  Sherlock  puts  the  matter  still  more  strongly  :  *  Con 
sider  wherein  the  power  of  the  keys  consists,  which  Christ 
committed  to  S.  Peter  and  the  rest  of  the  Apostles,  or  what 

1  See  Life  of  Tenison. 

2  Episcopalia,  or  Letters  of  Henry,  Bisliop  of  London,  to  the  Clergy  of 
his  Diocese.     Letter  3. 

3  Constitution  of  the  Catfiolic  Church,  p.  93. 

4  Letter   to   the   Archbishop   about    the    King's  Injunctions,    1694,    in 
Stillingfleet 's  Miscellaneous  Discourses. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  329 

is  the  true  ancient  discipline  of  the  Christian  Church.  The 
power  of  the  Church,  which  is  truly  spiritual,  consists  only 
in  letting  into  the  Church,  and  shutting  out.  What  would 
those  men  value  Church  censures  who  excommunicate  them 
selves  ?  ' '  '  The  Church,'  writes  Bishop  Barlow  to  R.  Boyle, 
'  having  no  power  to  punish  any  save  those  of  her  own  hody 
(by  Penance,  Excommunication,  &c.),  therefore  Papists  and 
Sectaries  are  not  liable  to  Church  censures.' 2  A  correspon 
dent  of  Bishop  Nicolson  goes  a  step  further.  '  As  to  joining 
with  Dissenters  in  this  specious  matter  [the  Reformation 
of  Manners],  I  must  always  look  upon  them  as  the  real 
cause  why  our  Church  discipline  is  not  powerful  enough  at 
present  to  correct  the  vices  they  now  complain  of.  It  is 
they  that  have  taught  the  people  to  slight  the  ecclesiastical 
censures.' 3  Disney,  who  took  exactly  the  opposite  view  from 
that  of  the  above  writer  on  the  Societies  for  Reformation 
of  Manners,  agrees  with  him  as  to  the  fact :  '  The  discipline 
of  the  Church  and  terror  of  Penance  and  Excommunications 
are  at  a  very  low  ebb,  seldom  exercised  and  little  feared.' 4 
Eobert  Nelson,  who  always  took  the  practical  view  of  things, 
instead  of  lamenting  the  decay  of  discipline,  suggests  that 
as  '  the  discipline  of  the  Church  is  at  so  low  an  ebb  among 
us,  we  ought  to  take  the  more  care  to  exercise  it  upon  our 
selves.'  And  finally,  Johnson  of  Cranbrook,  a  very  strong 
churchman,  roundly  asserts  that  '  no  wise  man  has  any 
reason  to  hope  that  Church  discipline  can  be  restored  in 
such  an  age  as  this.' 5  On  the  whole,  though  there  were 
isolated  cases  of  the  enforcement  of  discipline,  it  can  hardly 

1  A  Practical  Discourse  of  Religious  Assemblies,  p.  83. 

2  Cases  of   Conscience.     '  Case  of   Toleration  in  Matters  of  Keligion  ' 
(1692). 

3  Archbishop  Nicolson's   Correspondence  d'c.,  p.  165.     Letter  from  Mr. 
Yates  to  Bishop  Nicolson,  March  1699. 

4  Essay  upon  the  execution  of  the  Laws  against  Immorality  &c. 

5  The   Clergyman's    Vade   Mecum,  p.  274.     It   was   published   anony 
mously,    but   it   is   pretty   clearly   ascertained   that   the   author   was   Mr. 
Johnson. 


33O        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

be  regarded  as  having  exercised  much  real  influence  upon 
social  life. 

All  through  our  period  we  hear  much  of  the  now  obso 
lete  office  of  '  casuist.'  The  term  '  casuistry  '  had  not  then 
acquired  the  evil  meaning  which  now  attaches  to  it.1  It 
meant,  as  it  is  still  denned  in  dictionaries  to  mean,  the 
dealing  systematically  and  exhaustively  with  delicate  cases 
of  conscience.  Such  cases  must  constantly  arise  ;  and  it  is 
a  misfortune  that  the  science  which  dealt  with  them — (for 
it  is  a  science 2  demanding  great  acuteness,  thoughtfulness, 
and  training  for  its  acquirement) — should  have  fallen  into 
disuse.  It  has  been  said  that  casuistry  became  extinct  after 
the  Eestoration ;  and  as  a  proof  of  its  extinction  is  adduced 
the  flatness  of  the  reception  of  Jeremy  Taylor's  '  Ductor 
Dubitantium,'  the  work  on  which  he  '  bestowed  more  anxiety 
and  prayer '  than  on  any  of  his  works  ;  the  work  on  which 
he  was  content  that  his  fame  should  rest.3  But  does  it 
quite  follow  that  popular  distaste  for  the  subject  was  the 
cause  of  the  comparative  failure  of  the  work  ?  The  treatise 
is  obviously  far  too  long.  The  grand  and  florid  style,  both 
of  language  and  thought,  which  made  Taylor's  sermons 
and  devotional  works  so  impressive,  is  quite  out  of  place  in 
casuistry,  in  which  lucidity  is  the  one  thing  needful.  Mr. 

1  At  least  it  was  not  generally  used  in  a  sinister  sense,  though  the  works 
of  the  Jesuits  which  probably  caused  Englishmen  to  regard  it  as  an  '  evasive 
perversion  of  reason,'  '  a  quibbling  with  God,'  already  existed.  See  the 
excellent  '  Note  '  of  Dr.  Whewell  to  his  introductory  Lecture,  in  his  Lectures 
on  The  History  of  Moral  Philosophy  in  England.  He  appositely  refers  to 
Pope  as  giving  instances  of  both  uses  of  the  word : 
In  a  good  sense  : 

Who  shall  decide  when  doctors  disagree, 
And  soundest  casuists  doubt,  like  you  and  me  ? 
In  a  bad  sense  : 

Morality  by  her  false  guardians  drawn, 
Chicane  in  furs,  and  Casuistry  in  lawn. 

See  also  Hallam's  Literature  of  Europe,  chap.  iv.  §  1,  passim. 

'*  At  least  in  the  popular,  if  not  in  the  technical  sense  of  the  term. 
Hallam's  Literature  of  Europe,  ii.  p.  495,  defines  it  rightly  as  the  instru 
ment  for  applying  the  science  of  ethics. 

3  See  Heber's  Life,  prefixed  to  Taylor's  Works,  p.  xcvi. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  33! 

Hug-lies  is  surely  right  when  he  pronounces  the  '  Ductor 
Dubitantium  '  *  too  complicated,  overlaid  with  words  and 
metaphors ;  full  of  overstrained  arguments  on  both  sides.' l 
It  is,  no  doubt,  as  Dr.  Whewell  calls  it,  '  a  noble  work ;  ' 
any  work  to  which  a  mind  like  Taylor's  gave  its  deepest 
attention  could  hardly  fail  to  be  ;  but  there  is  no  wonder 
that  it  was  not  very  popular.2  The  author  wrote  it,  not 
because  he  felt  that  he  had  a  vocation  for  this  kind  of 
writing,  but  to  supply  a  want.  *  Though,'  he  says,  ( in  all 
things  else  the  goodness  of  God  hath  made  us  to  abound, 
and  our  cup  to  run  over  ;  yet  our  labours  have  been  hitherto 
unimploied  in  the  description  of  the  Eules  of  Conscience 
and  Casuistical  Theology.' 3  His  countrymen  were  '  wholly 
unprovided  with  casuistical  treatises,  and  were  forced  to  go 
down  to  the  forges  of  the  Philistines,  to  sharpen  every  man 
his  share  and  his  coulter,  his  axe  and  his  hammer.'  This 
is  not  quite  accurate;  the  great  names  of  Joseph  Hall  and 
Robert  Sanderson  among  writers  of  casuistry  suffice  to  shew 
that  English  churchmen  were  not  '  wholly  unprovided  with 
casuistical  treatises ; ' 4  but,  of  course,  in  comparison  with 
the  Romish  Church,  the  English  Church  was  very  scantily 
provided.  And  on  the  other  side,  the  Puritans  had  paid  at 
least  as  much  attention  to  casuistry  as  Anglican  churchmen. 
One  of  the  first  Englishmen  who  '  reduced  the  science  of 

1  Hughes'  Biographical  Memoirs  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  prefixed  to  his  edition 
of  Taylor's  Sermons. 

2  See  Dr.  Whewell's  Lectures  on  the  History  of  Moral  Philosophy  in 
England,  Lecture  L,  and  Hallam's  Literature  of  Europe,  iii.  p.  381  &c.,  for 
accounts  and  criticisms  (more  favourable  than  those  in  the  text)  of  the 
Ductor  Dubitantium. 

3  Dedication  to  the  king. 

4  Bishop  Hall's  Resolutions  and  Decisions  of  divers  Practical  Cases  of 
Conscience  in  continual  Use  among  Men,  was  published  in  1649.     Bishop 
Sanderson's  Cases  of  Conscience  were  first  published  in  1634 ;  there  are 
only  eleven  cases  altogether  in  this  volume.     Bishop  Sanderson  also  pub 
lished  two  treatises  which,  at  least,  bear  upon  casuistry ;  De  Obligatione 
Conscientice  and  De  Juramenti  Obligatione.    The  latter  has  been  edited  in 
our  own  day  with  excellent  notes  by  Dr.  Whewell,  himself  Professor  of 
Casuistry  at  Cambridge. 


332        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

casuistry  into  some  kind  of  form  and  explained  it  with  some 
accuracy,'  l  was  William  Perkins,  a  Puritan  in  the  time  of 
Elizabeth.2  He  was  followed  by  his  friend  and  pupil, 
William  Ames,3  who  says  of  his  master,  '  he  [Perkins]  left 
many  behind  him  affected  by  that  study  [the  study  of 
cases  of  conscience]  who  by  their  godly  sermons  (through 
God's  assistance)  made  it  to  run,  increase,  and  be  glorified 
throughout  England.'  These  of  course  would  be  Puritans. 
When  Owen  was  Dean  of  Christ  Church,  a  '  regular  office 
for  the  satisfaction  of  doubtful  consciences  was  held  in 
Oxford,'  which  irreverent  undergraduates  called  'the 
scruple  shop.' 4 

After  the  Ptestoration  there  is  abundant  evidence  that 
the  Anglican  divines  fully  appreciated  the  value  of  casuistry. 
Bishops  strongly  recommended  its  study  to  their  clergy. 
Bishop  Stillingfleet  advised  the  clergy  of  the  Worcester 
diocese  '  to  have  a  care  to  qualifie  themselves  for  resolving 
cases  of  conscience.' 5  Bishop  Gardiner  charges  the  clergy 
of  the  Lincoln  diocese  to  the  same  effect ;  while  his  prede 
cessor,  Bishop  Barlow,  was  himself  '  eminent  for  his  know 
ledge  of  casuistry,' 6  as  is  proved  by  his  admirable  '  Cases 
of  Conscience,'  a  work  well  worthy  to  be  placed  on  a 
level  with  the  '  Cases  of  Conscience  '  of  his  great  predecessor 
Bishop  Sanderson.  Bishop  Sprat,  in  his  advice  to  the 
clergy  of  the  Rochester  diocese  about  the  sick,  says  :  '  I 
would  persuade  you  to  have  some  good,  sound  body  of 
Casuistical  Divinity  to  be  always  at  hand.  You  can  scarce 
imagine,  unless  you  have  try'd  it,  as,  I  hope,  some  of  you 
have,  of  what  unspeakable  use  this  Divine  Science  of  Cases 

1  See  Hallam's  Literature  of  Europe,  i.  p.  554. 

'2  The  title  of  his  work  is,  The  whole  Treatise  of  Cases  of  Conscience, 
distinguished  into  three  books,  taught  and  delivered  by  Mr.  W.  Perkins,  in 
his  Holy  day  Lectures  (at  Cambridge).  See  Whewell's  History  of  Moral 
Philosophy,  Lect.  I.,  p.  2. 

3  De  Conscientia,  ejus  jure  et  casibus,  published  1G30. 

4  See  Heber's  Life  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  p.  clxx. 

5,See  Life  and  Character  of  Bishop  E.  Stillingfleet  (published  1710). 
6  See  Diary  dc.  of  Dr.  Worthing  ton,  p.  126,  note. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  333 

of  Conscience  will  be  to  you  upon  any  sudden  unforeseen 
emergency  in  such  ghostly  visits.  Indeed,  the  being  a 
sound  and  well- experienced  casuist  is  also  a  most  excellent 
qualification  towards  all  the  other  ends  of  your  ministerial 
office ;  there  being  no  kind  of  skill  or  proficiency  in  all  your 
theological  studies  that  more  becomes  a  divine  of  the 
Church  of  England,  whose  highest  spiritual  art  is  to  speak 
directly  from  his  own  conscience  to  the  Consciences  of  those 
under  his  Pastoral  care.' ' 

So  far  was  the  study  from  being  out  of  date,  that  in  1683 
a  professorship  was  founded  by  Dr.  Knightbridge  and  his 
brother  at  Cambridge,  '  of  Moral  Philosophy  or  Casuistical 
Divinity,'  the  holder  of  which  was  usually  called  the  '  Pro 
fessor  of  Casuistry ' ;  and  its  usefulness  so  commended 
itself  to  the  first  professor,  Dr.  Smoult,  that  he  augmented 
the  endowment.2  Dr.  Horneck  '  was  frequently  addressed 
to  with  Cases  of  Conscience,  and  sometimes  with  cases  that 
were  very  extraordinary.' 3  Archbishop  Sharp  was  referred 
to  '  by  many  Peers  as  a  faithful  Casuist.' 4  Of  Mr.  Marsh, 
vicar  of  Newcastle,  who  died  in  1692,  we  are  told  that  '  his 
known  abilities  in  resolving  cases  of  conscience  drew  after 
him  a  great  many  good  people,  not  only  of  his  own  flock, 
but  from  remoter  distances  who  resorted  to  him  as  to  a 
common  oracle,  and  commonly  went  away  from  him  entirely 
satisfied  in  his  wise  and  judicious  resolutions.'5  And  to 
quote  a  layman  as  well  as  the  clergy,  Henry  Dodwell 
advises  his  young  minister  on  the  necessity  of  skill  in 
Casuistical  Divinity.  '  For,'  he  writes,  '  if  you  must  particu 
larly  apply,  you  must  particularly  know  the  state  of  the 
conscience  you  have  to  deal  with.' 6  If  Bishop  Barlow's 

1  Visitation  Charge,  1695. 

2  See   Lectures   on   the   History  of  Moral  Philosophy    (p.  12),  by  Dr. 
Whewell,  when  he  was  the  worthy  holder  of  the  Casuistry  chair. 

3  See  Bishop  Kidder's  Life  of  Anthony  Horneck. 

4  Life,  by  son,  i.  p.  268. 

5  Preface  to  Marsh's  Sermons,  by  John  Scott  (author  of  the  Christian 
Life).     See  also  Memoirs  of  Ambrose  Barnes  (Surtees  Society),  p.  442. 

0  PodweH's  Letter  of  Advice  for  the,  SusQe^tion  of  Holy  Orders,  p.  56. 


334        LIFE    IN    TIIE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

'  cases '  may  be  regarded  as  typical  instances,  casuistry 
certainly  took  a  most  practical  form ;  and  in  this  form  it 
bears  so  obviously  upon  social  life,  that  it  is  hoped  too 
much  will  not  be  thought  to  have  been  said  about  it  in  that 
connection.1 

Among  the  heterogeneous  matters  which  are  grouped 
together  in  this  chapter,  as  all  bearing  upon  social  life,  may 
be  placed  Family  Prayer.  '  The  Puritans,'  says  a  writer 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  '  by  long  extempore  prayers, 
stuffed  with  absurd  cant  &c.,  brought  family  devotion  into 
disrepute  with  many,  who  instead  of  reforming  the  abuse, 
omitted  it  altogether.' 2  The  proceeding  was  not  a  logical 
one,  nor  was  it  at  all  intended  by  those  who  were  really 
anxious  to  keep  alive  a  religious  tone,  though  of  a  different 
kind  from  that  of  Puritanism.  Thus  '  The  Whole  Duty  of 
Man,'  which  more  than  any  other  work  both  represented 
and  directed  the  course  of  feeling  on  matters  of  religion 
after  the  Restoration,  provided  a  number  of  private  prayers, 
but  none  for  families ;  not  because  the  writer  would  have 
family  prayer  neglected,  but  '  because  the  Providence  of 
God  and  the  Church  hath  already  furnished  for  that  pur 
pose  infinitely  beyond  what  my  utmost  care  could  do.  I 
mean  the  Publick  Liturgy  or  Common  Prayer,  which  for  all 
publick  addresses  to  God  (and  such  are  Family  Prayers),  are 
so  excellent  and  useful  that  we  may  say  of  it,  as  David  did 
of  Goliath's  sword,  "  There  is  none  like  it."  ;  Pious  men 
of  all  parties  in  the  Church  perceived  the  danger  of  neglect 
ing  family  prayer.  Prideaux,  when  Archdeacon  of  Suffolk, 
*  being  well-informed  that  in  many  families  of  the  clergy 
Prayers  were  wholly  omitted,  morning  and  evening,  made 

1  These  are  some  of  the  titles  of  Bishop  Barlow's  cases :  The  case  of 
Toleration  in  matters  of  Religion.  The  case  of  Mr.  Colling  ton  concerning 
the  validity  or  nullity  of  his  marriage  ivith  Gallicia,  her  former  husband 
then  living.  The  case  '  De  Judais  in  Republicd  Christiana  tolerandis  vel 
de  novo  admittendis.'1  They  are  addressed  to  Hon.  B.  Boyle,  the  most, 
practical  of  men. 

-  Life  of  Dean  Humphrey  Prideaux  (published  17-18),  p.  62. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  335 

this  the  subject  of  a  Visitation  charge.'  l  Burnet  records, 
evidently  as  a  hint  to  those  who  neglected  the  duty,  that 
Sir  M.  Hale  '  used  constantly  to  worship  God  in  his  family, 
performing  it  himself  if  there  were  no  clergyman  present.' a 
Henry  Dodwell  urges  his  young  minister  to  '  persuade 
masters  of  families  to  keep  up  morning  and  evening  prayers.' 3 
'  The  first  thing,'  writes  Bishop  Bull  to  the  clergy  of  S. 
David's,  *  that  I  would  recommend  to  you,  and  which  I  do 
earnestly  exhort  you  to,  is,  To  apply  yourselves  with  great 
diligence  to  establish  the  practice  of  family  devotion  in  all 
the  families  of  your  respective  parishes.  ...  I  must  with 
some  warmth  beseech  you,  to  make  a  particular  application 
to  every  housekeeper  in  your  several  parishes,'  &c.  He 
dwells  at  some  length  on  the  point,  and  gives  them  a  list  of 
tracts  urging  the  duty,  which  shews  that  the  need  of  stirring 
up  householders  on  the  matter  was  keenly  felt.4  In  addition 
to  the  efforts  of  individuals,  the  matter  was  taken  up  by 
public  authority.  In  1688  'there  was  provided  a  family 
book  to  be  authorised  by  Convocation ;  it  contained  directions 
for  family  devotions,  with  several  forms  of  prayer,'  com 
piled  probably  by  Tillotson ; 5  and  in  the  Eoyal  Injunctions 
of  1694  one  article  was  '  concerning  family  devotion.'  How 
far  these  various  efforts  were  successful  we  have  no  means 
of  knowing. 

Before  concluding  this  chapter,  one  very  important 
question  must  be  discussed.  Did  the  Church  use  that  in 
fluence  which  she  possessed  over  social  life  to  stem  the 
torrent  of  immorality  which  swept  over  the  Court  and  its 
purlieus,  and,  to  a  less  extent,  the  whole  nation,  when  the 
revulsion  against  Puritanism  was  at  its  height  ?  The  over 
whelming  difficulties  she  must  have  met  with  in  the  attempt 
have  been  noticed  in  the  introductory  chapter ;  but  did  she 

1  Life,  p.  69.  2  Life  of  Sir  M.  Hale,  p.  92. 

3  Letters  d'c.,  ut  supra,  p.  98. 

4  Nelson's  Life  of  Bishop  Butt,  pp.  279-283. 
*  Lathbury's  History  of  Convocation,  p.  333. 


336        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

set  herself  boldly  to  overcome  those  difficulties  ?  True 
churchmen  did,  but  mere  conformists  did  not,  and  alas  !  the 
latter  abounded.  But  it  was  fixedness  of  principle  rather 
than  courage  that  was  lacking,  where  there  was  a  lack.  W^ant 
of  moral  courage  does  not  appear  to  have  been  a  besetting 
sin  of  the  Church  of  our  period.  Indeed,  it  was  not  a 
temptation  to  which  her  circumstances  rendered  her  pecu 
liarly  liable.  Outward  prosperity,  with  all  its  drawbacks, 
does  not  tend  to  make  men  sycophants.  We  have  abundant 
instances  of  courage  in  high  places.1  Sheldon,  whatever 
his  defects  may  have  been,  at  any  rate  set  an  excellent  ex 
ample  in  this  respect.  He  remonstrated  with  King  Charles 
in  very  strong,  not  to  say  rough,  language  on  the  irregu 
larity  of  his  life,  and  by  his  honest  expostulations  lost  all 
favour  at  Court  and  never  regained  it.  Ken  '  was  brought 
into  relation  with  three  kings,  and  had  the  Christian  bold 
ness  to  rebuke  them  all.' 2  He  replied  to  the  application  to 
receive  King  Charles'  mistress  into  his  lodgings  at  Win 
chester,  '  Not  for  his  three  kingdoms  ' ;  he  was  so  notoriously 
in  the  habit  of  uttering  plain  truths  from  the  pulpit  without 
fear  or  favour,  that  King  Charles  was  wont  to  say,  '  I  must 
go  and  hear  Ken  tell  me  of  my  faults.'  He  faced  the  brutal 
Kirke  in  his  drunken  rage  and  remonstrated  with  him  on 
his  cruelties  after  the  Monmouth  rebellion;  on  the  same 
occasion  he  met  Lord  Faversham  at  Bridgwater,  and  plainly 
told  him  that  his  doings  were  '  murders  in  law ' ;  and  lie 
wrote  to  King  James  to  expostulate  with  him  on  '  Jeffreys' 
campaign.' 3  He  bravely  preached  at  Court  on  the  duty  of 
obeying  God  rather  than  the  king,  when  the  duties  con- 

1  Mr.  Hunter,  in  his  Life  of  Oliver  Hcyivood,  says  that  '  we  are  not  able 
to  judge  at  this  distance  of  time  whether  the  clergy  about  Court,  or  conform 
ing  clergy  generally,  may  have  been  justly  chargeable  with  not  having  raised, 
the  warning  voice  '  (p.  199),  but  surely  the  instances  cited  in  the  text  may 
enable  us  to  form  an  approximate  judgment. 

2  Life,  by  a  Layman,  i.  p.  403. 

3  See  Sir  James  Mackintosh's  Eeview  of  the  Causes  of  the  Revolution  of 
J088  (Miscellaneous  Works  in  1  vol.,  p.  289). 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  337 

flicted,  and  when  the  sermon  was  reported  to  James  as  being 
a  premeditated  insult,  and  Ken  had  to  give  an  account  of 
himself  to  the  king  :  'If,'  he  replied,  '  his  Majesty  had  not 
neglected  his  own  duty  of  being  present,  my  enemies  had 
missed  this  opportunity  of  accusing  me.'  '  The  oft- told 
tale  of  the  glorious  resistance  of  the  Seven  Bishops  to  King 
James'  arbitrary  demands,  and  that  of  the  bold  stand  of 
the  Fellows  of  Magdalen  generally,  and  of  their  President, 
Hough,  the  meekest  of  men,  in  particular,  need  only  be 
alluded  to,  to  shew  that  courage  was  not  lacking  when 
occasion  required  it.  John  Sharp,  when  he  was  rector  of 
S.  Giles'  in  the  Fields,  preached  boldly  against  Eomanism, 
in  contravention  of  the  express  orders  of  King  James,  and 
Bishop  Compton  refused  to  suspend  him  for  so  doing,  at 
the  expense  of  being  suspended  himself.  The  vast  majority 
of  the  London  clergy,  Edward  Fowler,  to  his  credit,  leading 
the  way,  and  Simon  Patrick  following  next,  refused  to  read 
the  king's  illegal  Declaration  ;  the  clergy  of  the  diocese  of 
Durham  refused,  almost  to  a  man,  to  obey  the  injunctions 
of  their  servile  bishop,  Lord  Crewe,  on  the  same  matter  ; 
indeed,  the  vast  majority  of  the  clergy  throughout  the 
kingdom  acted  in  the  same  bold  spirit  -  out  of  ten  thousand 
clergy  only  two  hundred  consented  to  read  the  Declaration. 
Samuel  Johnson  sat  in  the  pillory,  and  was  whipped  from 
Newgate  to  Tyburn  for  warning  '  Protestant  officers  and 
soldiers  against  being  instruments  of  the  Court  for  the 
destruction  of  their  religion.'  Sancroft,  feeble  and  irreso 
lute  as  he  has  been  termed,  had  no  fear  of  expostulating 
with  James,  when  Duke  of  York,  on  his  change  of  religion.2 
Courage,  too,  in  boldly  rebuking  vice  in  the  vicious  days  of 
Charles  II.  was  certainly  not  lacking.  Pepys,  who  is  very 

1  Bowies'  Life,  ii.  p.  138.    See  also  Ken's  sermon  on  the  Reformed  Church 
of  Judah  [England],  preached  at  Whitehall  in  King  James'  reign  against 
popery. 

2  It  is  not  thought  necessary  to  give  authorities  in  proof  of  these  facts, 
as  they  will  be  found  in  every  popular  history,  and  have  never  been  dis> 
puted. 


338        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

chary  of  recording  anything  good  of  the  clergy,  specifies  at 
least  two  occasions  on  which  he  heard  bold  sermons  preached 
against  adultery  in  the  presence  of  the  king,  who  must  have 
felt  that  the  preachers'  shafts  were  aimed  against  him.1 
On  the  latter  occasion  the  preacher  was  Dr.  Creighton 
(Pepys  spells  him  Creeton),  who  is  said  by  a  writer  of  the 
next  generation  to  have  been  one  who  'preached  boldly 
against  the  vices  of  the  times.' 2  Stillingfleet's  noble  sermon 
before  the  same  mocking  king  and  his  mocking  courtiers 
on  the  suggestive  text,  *  Fools  make  a  mock  of  sin,'  has 
already  been  noticed,  and  he  was  no  less  bold  in  his  sermon 
before  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  kine  of  Bashan.  A 
less  known  man,  one  Mr.  Nuggett,  King  Charles'  chaplain, 
was  not  afraid  to  beard  the  lion  in  his  den,  preaching  at 
Windsor  Castle  itself  a  sermon  against  adultery  which  must 
have  made  the  royal  adulterer's  ears  tingle  (August  15, 1675). 
Many  of  Bishop  Hooper's  published  sermons  were  preached 
before  royalty,  and  are  full  of  the  most  courageous  and  out 
spoken  utterances  without  the  slighest  tincture  of  flattery.3 
Archbishop  Sharp,  in  his  sermon  at  Queen's  Anne's  Corona 
tion,  April  23,  1702,  began  well  his  important  office  as  her 
spiritual  director,  by  pointing  out  her  duty  most  fully  and 
bravely,4  and  all  through  her  reign  he  pursued  the  same 
bold  course. 

1  '  April  6,  1662.     To  Whitehall,  and  there  heard  a  very  honest  sermon 
before  the  king.     He  did  much  insist  upon  the  sin  of  adultery,  which  me- 
thought  might  touch  the  king.' 

'  July  29,  1667.  Dr.  Creeton  before  the  king  preached  against  the  sins  of 
the  Court,  and  particularly  against  adultery,  over  and  over  again  instancing 
how  for  that  single  sin  in  David,  the  whole  nation  was  undone.' 

2  Lives  of  the  English  Bishops  from  the  Restauration  to  the  Revolution 
[by  Nathaniel  Salmon],  published  1733. 

3  The  second  was  before  the  king  at  Whitehall,  November  5,  1681,  in 
which  he  avers  it  was  not  the  part  of  the  Church  to  flatter  the  Civil  Power ;  the 
third  before  the  queen  at  Whitehall,  January  25, 169-J  ;  the  fourth  before  the 
king  and  queen  at  Whitehall,  January  14,  169^  ;  the  fifth  before  the  king  at 
Kensington  in  1695.     (See  Works  in  2  vols.,  new  edition.     Oxford,  1855.) 

4  The  subject  is,  '  The  duty  of  Princes  to  be  Nursing  Fathers  to  their 
subjects.'     '  Arbitrariness,'  says  the  preacher,  '  is  a  word  tit  for  none  but 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  339 

Courage  of  rather  a  different  kind  was  called  for  from 
the  clergy  on  one  memorable  occasion  which,  even  after  this 
lapse  of  years,  cannot  be  recalled  without  a  thrill  of  horror. 
Conflicting  statements  may  be  found  as  to  their  behaviour 
during  the  Great  Plague  of  London  in  1665.  On  the  one 
hand  we  are  told  that  '  the  English  clergy,  with  a  benevo 
lence  and  a  fortitude  above  all  praise,  resolved  to  remain  in 
their  stations,  and  to  supply  the  wretched  sufferers  with 
spiritual  consolations ; '  '  on  the  other,  that  '  whilst  the 
Anglican  clergy  fled,  the  Presbyterian  preachers  mounted 
once  more  the  pulpits.' 2  Defoe,  who  lived  nearer  the  time, 
and  whose  testimony  will  not  be  suspected  of  unduly 
favouring  the  clergy,  writes,  more  correctly  than  either  of 
the  above  :  '  It  is  true  some  of  the  dissenting  turned-out 
ministers  stayed,  and  their-  courage  is  to  be  commended 
and  highly  valued,  but  these  were  not  in  abundance ;  it 
cannot  be  said  that  they  all  stayed  and  that  none  retired 
into  the  country,  any  more  than  it  can  be  said  of  the  Church 
clergy  that  they  all  went  away ;  neither  did  all  those  that 
went  away  go  without  substituting  curates  and  others  in  theix 
places  to  do  the  offices  needful  and  visit  the  sick  as  far  as  it 
was  practicable.' 3  Indisputable  facts  bear  out  this  statement. 
It  is  certain  that  in  some  cases  the  Church  pulpits  were  de 
serted  by  their  proper  occupants,  and  occupied  by  the  ministers 
who  had  been  ejected  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity — all  honour 
to  the  good  men  who  filled  the  gap  when  their  services  were 
so  sorely  needed.  But  it  is  equally  certain  that  there  were 
many  instances  of  noble  self-sacrifice  on  the  part  of  the 
clergy.  Archbishop  Sheldon  again  set  an  excellent  example. 

God ;  for  all  his  creatures  are  under  laws  by  which  they  must  be  governed.' 
(See  Archbishop  Sharp's  Sermons,  vol.  ii.  pp.  75-85.) 

1  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  by  J.  B.  S.  Carwithen,  iii.  p.  114. 

2  History  of  England,  principally  in  the  seventeenth  Century,  Leopold 
von  Ranke,  iii.  p.  447. 

3  History  of  the  Great  Plague,  p.  272.     Mr.  Maddox  (Examination  of 
NcaVs  4th  vol.  of  History  of  the  Puritans  by. Grey  and  Maddox,  1739)  gives 
a  similar  account  (iv.  pp.  345-6). 

z  2 


34O        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

He  firmly  continued  at  Lambeth  all  the  time  of  the  greatest 
danger,1  and  used  his  vast  influence  to  procure  aid  for  the 
sufferers  and  *  preserved  numbers  who  but  for  him  would 
have  perished.'2  'Stayed,'  writes  Patrick  with  artless 
simplicity,  '  in  my  parish  during  the  Plague.  When  my 
parishioners  returned,  they  were  wonderful  kind  to  me,  and 
I  found  myself  much  endeared  to  them  by  my  stay  among 
those  who  remained.' 3  There  is  a  most  interesting  set  of 
letters  in  the  *  Ellis  Correspondence  '  from  the  Kev.  Stephen 
Bing  to  Dr.  Sancroft,  Dean  of  S.  Paul's,  '  upon  the  ravage 
of  the  Great  Plague.'  Mr.  Bing  was  one  of  the  clergy  who 
stayed  at  his  post,  and  we  find  in  his  letters  such  entries 
as  these  :  '  The  Prayers  of  the  Church  are  continued,  and 
persons  attending.'  *  On  the  last  Holy-day  we  had  a 
sermon,  and  shall  have  another  on  the  Fast  Day.'  '  The 
Cross  [S.  Paul's]  sermons  are  continued,  and  we  had  on  the 
Fast  Day  a  laudable  sermon  by  Mr.  Bisden,  minister  in 
Bread  Street.'  'Mr.  Portington  [one  of  the  S.  Paul's 
clergy]  lies  at  the  point  of  death,  whose  turn  being  to 
officiate  this  week,  I  supply.'  *  Dr.  Barwick  is  a  constant 
frequenter  at  our  church,  sometimes  three  times  in  a  day.' 
*  It  is  said  that  my  Lord  Bishop  of  London  hath  sent  to 
those  pastors  that  have  quitted  their  flocks  by  reason  of 
these  times,  that,  if  they  return  not  speedily,  others  shall 
be  put  into  their  places.'  There  are  also  letters  from 
Tillotson  to  Sancroft  in  the  same  collection,  shewing  that 
the  former  was  in  London  during  the  Plague,  and  most 
active  in  behalf  of  the  sufferers.  All  the  letters  are  written 
in  July  and  August,  when  the  Plague  was  at  its  height.4 
This  was  just  one  of  those  occasions  on  which  there  is  no 
medium  between  pusillanimity  and  heroism ;  those  who 
seized  the  golden  opportunity  and  shewed  the  martyr-spirit 

1  Grey  and  Marldox,  Examination  of  Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans, 
iv.  p.  346. 

*  Carwithen,  ut  supra.  3  Autobiography,  p.  57. 

4  See  Ellis'  Original  Letters,  second  series,  vol.  iv. pp.  24, 25-27, 28, 30,  &Q 


THE    CHURCH    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE  34! 

gained  such  an  influence  as  few  can  acquire;  those  who 
fled  were  branded  with  a  stigma  of  cowardice  which  must 
have  seriously  impaired  their  influence  when,  the  danger 
over,  they  returned  to  their  posts. 

One  great  hindrance  to  the  influence  of  the  Church  on 
social  life  arose  from  a  cause  the  very  opposite  to  one  of 
the  two  reasons  alleged  by  Eachard  for  the  '  contempt  of 
the  clergy.'  The  Caroline  age  is  rightly  called  the  golden 
age  of  English  theology,  but  that  theology  would  have 
affected  the  masses  more  if  it  had  been  of  a  less  precious 
metal.  Jeremy  Taylor,  Barrow,  South,  Thorndike,  Ham 
mond,  Sparrow,  Gunning,  Stillingfleet,  and  the  rest  are 
constantly  quoted  as  authorities,  but  I  doubt  whether  their 
works  could  be  placed  with  advantage  in  the  hands  of  '  the 
general  reader.'  At  a  later  date  the  nonjuring  divines  were 
mostly  refined  and  cultured  men,  and  their  influence  was 
chiefly  among  the  refined  and  cultured.  It  is  not  that  the 
great  Caroline  divines  are  difficult  to  understand,  or  that 
they  loved  to  deal  with  abstruse  doctrines.  On  the  contrary, 
they  strove  of  all  things  to  be  practical,  but  practical,  in 
the  sense  of  influencing  the  practice  of  the  multitude,  they 
were  not.  Who  would  hope  to  convert  a  vulgar  drunkard 
or  debauchee  from  his  evil  ways  by  putting  into  his  hands 
a  volume  of  Barrow  or  Jeremy  Taylor  ?  Such  writers 
would  be,  to  use  a  modern  phrase,  quite  out  of  touch  with 
him.  The  difficulty  here  hinted  at  has  been  a  difficulty  of 
the  Anglican  Church,  more  felt  by  it  than  by  either  the 
Romanists  on  the  one  hand  or  any  of  the  sects  on  the 
other,  but  never  more  so  than  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
seventeenth  century. 


342        LIF*F<    IN    THE    EXGLTSII    CHURCH,    1660-1714 


CHAPTEE   IX. 

THE  CHURCH  AND  OTHER  RELIGIOUS  BODIES. 

THE  relation  of  the  Church  to  other  religious  bodies  is  too 
important  a  feature  in  the  Church  life  of  our  period  to  be 
altogether  ignored ;  though,  as  it  more  concerns  religious 
thought  than  religious  life,  and  is  therefore  in  some  points 
more  suitable  for  a  controversial  treatise  than  for  a  work  of 
this  kind,  it  will  suffice  to  touch  upon  the  subject  lightly. 

The  first  point  which  naturally  suggests  itself  in  this 
connection  is  the  relationship  between  the  Church  and  the 
English  nonconformists.  And,  at  the  outset,  let  us  frankly 
acknowledge  that,  so  far  as  the  Church  in  general,  and  in 
dividual  churchmen  in  particular,  fostered  or  sanctioned 
that  spirit  of  persecution  which  unquestionably  existed  more 
or  less  during  the  whole  of  our  period,  and  especially  the 
earliest  and  latest  years  of  it,  a  grievous  fault  was  committed. 
But  in  common  fairness  several  points  must  be  taken  into 
full  account,  which  are  far  too  apt  to  be  overlooked. 

(1)  It  is  obviously  most  unfair  to  judge  the  seventeenth 
century  by  the  standard  of  the  nineteenth.1  At  the  earlier 
date  the  true  principles  of  religious  toleration  were  most 
imperfectly  understood  on  all  sides.  It  was  generally 
thought  that  it  was  nothing  less  than  a  most  culpable  crime 
to  tolerate  error;  and  error  was,  of  course,  any  set  of 
opinions  with  which  the  holders  of  power  did  not  happen 
to  agree.  How  rigorously  the  Presbyterians,  when  they 
were  dominant  in  England,  acted  upon  this  principle,  and 

,  '  I  must  apologise  for  so  often  repeating  this  warning ;  but  the  necessity 
meets  one  at  every  turn  when  reading  modern  histories  of  that  period. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    OTHER    RELIGIOUS    BODIES       343 

how  bitterly  they  denounced  any  attempt  to  ignore  it,  need 
not  here  be  specified.  The  Independents— to  their  honour 
be  it  recorded— were  more  tolerant,  but  they  made  several 
exceptions  to  their  toleration,  and  as  the  Church  was  one  of 
these  exceptions,  it  was  more  likely  that  the  remembrance  of 
their  toleration  would  exasperate  than  conciliate  churchmen. 

(2)  The  question  as  to  how  to  deal  practically  with  the 
nonconformists  was  by  no  means  a  simple  one.     It  is  all 
very  well  to  suggest  in  an  airy  way  that  they  should  have 
been  suffered  to  worship  God  after  their  own  fashion,  while 
we  worshipped  Him  in  ours.     But  would  they  have  been 
content  with  this    sort   of  'happy  family'   arrangement? 
The  vast  majority,  who  were  Presbyterians,  assuredly  would 
not.1     A  very  small  number  of  the  nonconformists  at  the 
Eestoration  were  dissenters.    Most  of  them  were  as  strongly 
in  favour  of  one  National  Church  as  the  strictest  churchman 
in  the  kingdom. 

(3)  The  enormous  provocation  which  the  Church  had 
received  ought  surely  to  be  taken  into  account.     True,  it  is 
no  sufficient  excuse  to  say  that  the  persecution  was  only 
retaliation,2  for   one  has  yet  to   learn   that   revenge  is  a 
Christian  virtue.     But  churchmen  may  at  least  claim  that 
some  allowance  should  be  made  for  the  natural  exasperation 
of  men  who  had  seen  the  most  cherished  objects  of  their 
veneration  rudely  destroyed  and  insulted  ;    damage  done 
which  was  simply  irreparable,  principles   outraged  which 
were  in  their  eyes  sacred.     When  the  turn  of  the  wheel 
again  gave  them  the  upper  hand,  it  would  have  been  more 
than  human  nature  if  they  could  have  regarded  with  favour 
the  claims  of  those  to  whose  principles  they  attributed  'all 
these  disasters. 

(4)  It  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  that  there  was  a  very 

1  For  example,  the  Presbyterians  repudiated  the  'Declaration  of  Indul 
gence.' 

*  This  was  said.  See  the  Brief  Martyrology  &c.  of  the  London  Clergy  in 
the  Harleian  Miscellany,  with  the  suggestive  motto  '  Nee  lex  est  aequior 
ulla.' 


344-        L1FE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

real  and  widespread  feeling  that  both  the  Church  and  the 
Monarchy  were  still  in  danger.  Whether  there  were  any 
sufficient  grounds  for  the  alarm  is  another  question ;  but 
that  it  was  quite  genuine,  no  one  who  studies  impartially 
contemporary  documents  can  for  a  moment  doubt. 

(5)  It   is  most  necessary   to   distinguish   between   the 
legitimate   results  of   Church  principles,   and  the  acts  of 
politicians  whether  ecclesiastical  or  lay, — two  things  which 
have  been  often  confounded.     A  very  striking  case  in  point 
may  be  found  in  the  marked  change  for  the  better  in  the 
treatment    of    nonconformists    which    resulted   from   the 
succession  of  Bancroft  to  Sheldon  in  the  primacy.    Bancroft 
was  a  true  English  churchman,  Sheldon  was  a  statesman  in 
a  mitre.    When  the  churchman  took  the  place  of  the  states 
man  at  the  helm,  the  spirit  of  persecution  was  arrested.1 
And,  as  a  rule,  it  was  those  who  were  conformists  rather 
than  churchmen  who  were  most  cruel.     One  of  the  most 
violent    writers   against  nonconformity   was   the    recreant 
Samuel  Parker,  whom  no  one  will  accuse  of  being  a  strong 
churchman.     The  prelate  who  (next  to  Sheldon)  is  popu 
larly  supposed  to  have  been  the  most  harsh  in  his  treatment 
of  nonconformists,  was  Bishop  Seth  Ward,  whose  church  - 
manship  was  of  a  very  lax  type.    Bishop  Sanderson,  on  the 
other  hand,  a  model   churchman  of  the   very  best  type, 
'  signified  his  concern  that  some  things  were  carried  so  high 
in  the  ecclesiastical  settlement,  which,'  he  said,  *  should  not 
have  been  if  he  could  have  prevented  it,' 2  and  was  uniformly 
mild  in  his  treatment  of  nonconformists.3     So  was  Juxon,  a 
true  son  of  the  Church.4    So  was  Bishop  Ken,  the  very  best 
representative,  perhaps,  of  Church  principles  in  his  own 
or  any  age.     '  The  Church  of  England,'  he  said,  'teaches 

1  See  Wilkins'  Concilia  for  a  proof  of  this  ;  a  proof  all  the  more  striking 
because  it  is  given  by  a  mere  dry  statement  of  facts,  without  pointing  out 
the  significance  of  them. 

2  See  Calamy's  Account  of  My  Own  Life. 

3  See  Perry's  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  ii.  p.  370. 

4  See  Hook's  Lives  of  Archbishops  :  '  Juxon,'  xi.  p.  43C. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    OTHER    RELIGIOUS    BODIES       345 

me  charity  towards  those  who  dissent  from  me,'  and  in 
accordance  with  that  teaching  he  ever  acted.  So  was  Bishop 
Earle,  perhaps  the  most  popular  of  all  the  bishops  of  the 
Restoration  era,  and  a  thorough  churchman  in  the  spiritual 
sense.  But  the  fact  is,  it  was  popular  feeling  that  was  so 
strong  in  favour  of  suppressing  nonconformity.  All  that 
was  done,  was  done  in  accordance  with  the  national  will, 
and  was  at  least  as  welcome  to  the  laity  as  to  the  clergy. 
It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  Act  of  Uniformity  and  the 
rest  of  the  *  Clarendonian  Code '  would  have  been  far  less 
rigorous  if  they  had  been  framed  solely  by  the  House  of 
Lords,  where  the  bishops  in  the  flush  of  their  regained 
power  must  have  had  great  weight  in  such  matters.  It  was 
in  the  House  of  Commons  that  the  greatest  intolerance 
prevailed.  We  have  curious  instances  of  the  feeling  of 
bitterness  against  nonconformity  in  the  diaries  of  such 
men  as  Pepys  and  Sir  John  Reresby,1  upon  both  of  whom 
the  true  principles  of  the  Church  exercised  very  small 
influence.  At  the  same  time  it  is  not  denied  that  some 
churchmen  of  an  unquestionably  high  type,  such  e.g.  as 
Cosin,  and  Patrick  in  his  earlier  life,  were  in  favour  of  harsh 
dealing  with  nonconformists.  And  it  is  deeply  to  be  re 
gretted  that  this  was  the  case.  The  Church  could  well  have 
afforded  to  dispense  with  the  aid  of  the  secular  arm ;  nay, 
as  the  results  of  the  Toleration  Act  abundantly  proved,  her 
position  would  have  been  positively  strengthened  if  it  had 
rested  purely  on  moral  and  intellectual  grounds,  not  on  force. 
It  is  a  more  pleasing  task  in  dealing  with  this  question 
of  the  relationship  of  the  Church  to  nonconformists,  to  turn 
to  the  many  instances  of  kindness  which  occurred.-  As  is 

1  Sir  John  calls  King  Charles'  '  Proclamation  for  the  indulgence  of 
tender  consciences  (1671)  the  most  violent  blow  that  had  been  given  to 
the  Church  of  England  from  the  day  of  the  Restoration.  All  sectaries,'  he 
adds  in  dismay,  '  now  publicly  repaired  to  their  meetings  and  conventicles  ; 
nor  could  all  the  laws  afterwards,  and  the  most  rigorous  execution  of  them, 
ever  suppress  these  separatists  or  bring  them  to  due  conformity.'  (Memoirs, 
p.  174.) 


346        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

so  often  the  case,  individuals  were  far  more  kindly  and  con 
siderate  when  acting  in  their  individual  capacity  than  when 
acting  as  part  of  a  mass.  In  the  Savoy  Conference,  for 
instance,  according  to  Baxter,  no  two  men  were  more  bitter 
against  nonconformity  than  Morley  and  Gunning ;  and  yet 
both  showed  personally  great  kindness  towards  noncon 
formists.  Morley,  we  are  told,  '  stopped  proceedings  against 
Mr.  Sprint,  an  ejected  minister,  and  invited  him  to  dinner, 
endeavouring  to  soften  down  the  terms  of  conformity  ;  and 
drank  to  an  intermeddling  country  mayor  in  a  cup  of 
canary,  advising  him  to  let  dissenters  live  in  quiet,  in 
many  of  whom,  he  was  satisfied,  there  was  the  fear  of  God, 
and  he  thought  they  were  not  likely  to  be  gained  by  rigour 
or  severity.' l  Mr.  J.  Farrol,  the  ejected  minister  of  Selborne, 
'  was  frequently  desired  to  visit  his  Lordship '  (Bishop 
Morley,  in  whose  diocese  of  Winchester  Selborne  lay), 
'  and  upon  repeated  assurances  of  being  welcome  to  him, 
he  went,  and  was  very  courteously  and  respectfully  enter 
tained  by  him  several  times  at  his  table.'  *  His  Lordship,' 
it  is  added,  *  was  free  in  discoursing  with  him  upon  past 
times ;  and  he  observed  that  when  he  spoke  of  Mr.  Dod 
(the  Puritan)  who  taught  him  Hebrew  and  was  otherwise 
helpful  to  him,  he  made  this  addition,  "  who  is  now  in 
Heaven."  ' 2  When  Gunning  succeeded  the  eminent  Dr. 
Tuckney  in  the  Mastership  of  S.  John's  and  Regius  Pro 
fessorship  of  Divinity  at  Cambridge,  he  allowed  the  ejected 
divine  '  a  very  considerable  annuity  for  his  whole  life.' 3 
Archbishop  Sharp,  the  one  blot  in  whose  character  was  his 
advocacy  of  some  of  the  harsh  measures  against  noncon 
formity  at  the  close  of  Queen  Anne's  reign,  was,  when  rector 
of  S.  Giles',  so  intimate  with  the  nonconforming  Baxter,  who 
lived  in  the  parish,  that  Baxter  consulted  him  on  the  delicate 

1  Stoughton's  Church  of  the,  Restoration,  i.  p.  478. 

2  E.  Calamy's  Account  of  the  Ejected  Ministers  &c.,  ii.  p.  344. 

3  Athence  Oxonienses,  iv.  p.  140,  and  Granger's  Biographical  History  of 
England,  iii.  p.    49. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    OTHER    RELIGIOUS    BODIES       347 

question  of  taking  a  wife.1  Stillingfleet,  who  in  his  public 
capacity  was  no  friend  of  nonconformity,  yet  '  sheltered 
in  his  rectory  at  Button  one  of  the  ejected  ministers,  and 
took  a  large  house  which  he  converted  into  a  school,  for 
another.' 2  Even  Archbishop  Sheldon,  that  arch-enemy  of 
nonconformity,  presented  to  the  living  of  Ashwell  Ralph 
Cud  worth,  who,  *  all  through  the  Commonwealth  was  in 
some  ways  peculiarly  associated  with  Cromwell  and  his 
friends,' 3  and  '  often  treated  very  kindly '  Thomas  White, 
the  ejected  lecturer  of  S.  Bride's,  whom  he  '  protected  at 
the  chappel  at  Ludgatc.' 4  Bishop  Seth  Ward,  another 
violent  opponent  of  nonconformity,  '  always  retained  a 
grateful  sense  of  John  Howe's  kindness,'  and  on  one  occasion, 
if  not  more,  did  him  substantial  service.  '  Howe,  having 
preached  at  the  house  of  a  gentleman  whom  he  had  been 
visiting  for  a  few  days,  found  on  returning  home  that  an 
officer  from  the  bishop's  court  had  been  to  apprehend  him, 
and,  not  finding  him,  had  given  notice  that  citations  were 
out  against  Howe  and  his  friend.  But  the  bishop  received 
Howe  with  the  utmost  politeness,  and  treated  him  as  an  old 
acquaintance.  Neither  Howe  nor  his  friend,  after  the  inter 
view,  heard  anything  more  about  the  process.' 5  Howe  also 
continued  to  be  on  intimate  terms  with  Bishops  Stillingfleet, 
Wilkins,  Kidder,  Sharp,  Tillotson,  and  other  eminent 
clergymen.6  Dr.  WTatts  '  lived  on  terms  of  good-will  and 
friendship  with  some  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  clergy,' 7  and 
a  greater  man,  Lightfoot,  was  allowed,  in  spite  of  his  non 
conformity,  to  continue  Master  of  S.  Catherine's,  Cambridge, 
after  the  Restoration.8  Dr.  Wrench,  fellow  of  S.  John's, 

See  Tyerman's  Life  of  Samuel  Wesley,  p.  280.     2  Stoughton,  i.  p.  292. 

Dr.  Tulloch's  Rational  Theology  <&c.,  ii.  p.  204. 

Calamy,  Account  of  Ejected  Ministers  &c.,  ii.  p.  31. 

Life  &c.  of  John  Howe,  by  Henry  Kogers,  p.  180  &c. 

Rogers,  p.  215  &c. 

7  Memoir  of  Dr.  Isaac  Watts,  by  E.  Southey,  prefixed  to  his  Lyric 
Poems. 

*  See  Worthington's  Diary,  i.  p.  54,  note. 


34-8        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

Cambridge,  finding  at  the  Eestoration  a  worthy  man  in  his 
place,  would  not  disturb  him.1  Bishop  Laney  of  Peter 
borough,  in  his  primary  visitation  before  S.  Bartholomew's 
Day,  said  very  significantly  to  the  assembled  clergy,  « Not  I, 
but  the  law,'  and  though  he  had  suffered  considerably  from 
the  Presbyterians  at  Cambridge  in  1644,  he  could,  in  the  see 
of  Lincoln,  'look  through  his  fingers,'  and  he  suffered  a 
worthy  nonconformist  to  preach  publicly  very  near  him 
for  some  years  together.2  Edmund  Calamy  tells  us  that 
'  several  ministers  of  the  Established  Church  used  to  visit 
at  his  father's  house,  and  at  his  grandfather's,' 3— both,  of 
course,  dissenters,  and  that  Mr.  Gilbert,  an  ejected  minister, 
was  not  only  friendly  with,  but  received  substantial  support 
from  several  of  the  most  eminent  clergy  at  Oxford.4  Ambrose 
Barnes,  a  strong  dissenter,  records  how  at  Newcastle  *  Vicar 
Marsh  would  step  out  privately  by  night,  and  make  him 
respectful  visits,  throwing  the  blame  of  the  rigorous  pro 
ceedings  upon  the  misfortunes  of  the  times/  5  Dr.  Bridgman, 
rector  of  Worthembury,  '  acted  kindly  to  Philip  Henry,  and 
showed  no  sympathy  with  the  ruling  powers,' 6  and  several 
instances  are  given  of  the  kindness  and  forbearance  of 
Bishop  Nicolson  of  Gloucester  to  nonconformists  in  his 
diocese.7  Of  course,  those  who  love  to  fan  the  flame  of 
discord  may  easily  find  instances  of  a  different  mode  of  treat 
ment  ;  but  on  the  whole  it  is  abundantly  clear  that  the 
leniency  in  carrying  out  the  laws  against  nonconformists 
forms  a  pleasing  contrast  to  the  harshness  of  those  laws 
themselves. 

When  we  turn  to  the  Anglican  Church's  relationship 
to  the  Kefornied  Churches  abroad,  which  were  certainly 
more  in  sympathy  with  her  home  nonconformists  than 
with  herself,  all  is  changed.  A  very  marked  distinction 

1  See  Zouch's  Life  of  Dean  Sudbury,  p.  73.  2  Stoughton,  i.  p.  488. 

3  Account  of  My  Own  Life,  i.  pp.  74  and  89.  4  Ibid.  p.  270  drc. 

5  Memoirs  of  Ambrose  Barnes  (Surtees  Society),  p.  9. 

B  Stoughton,  i.  p.  207.  7  Ibid.  pp.  291-3. 


THE    CHURCH    ANti    OTHER    RELIGIOUS    BODIES       349 

was  drawn  between  those  who  lacked  episcopal  ordination 
because  they  could  not  help  themselves,  and  those  who  de 
liberately  rejected  it,  when  it  was  to  be  had,  and  by  none 
more  than  by  high  churchmen.  Bishop  Cosin,  for  instance, 
whose  severity  towards  nonconformists  at  home  was  a  blot 
upon  an  otherwise  fine  character,  laid  great  and  frequent 
stress  upon  this  difference.  '  I  never,'  he  said,  '  refused  to 
join  with  the  French  Protestants  at  Charenton  or  anywhere 
else,  in  all  things  wherein  they  join  with  the  Church  of 
England.' l  He  expressly  declared  his  opinion  for  commu 
nicating  with  Geneva  rather  than  Koine ; 2  and  drew  a 
synopsis,  in  parallel  columns,  of  the  divergent  views  of  the 
Eoman  Catholics  and  the  Eeformed  Churches,  summing  up 
in  favour  of  the  latter  on  every  point.3  In  this  he  strictly 
followed  in  the  lines  of  his  great  predecessor  at  Durham, 
Bishop  Morton,  who  was  also  a  churchman  of  a  very  stiff 
type.  But  '  as  for  our  brethren,'  he  says  in  his  will,  '  the 
Protestants  of  foreign  churches  reformed,  the  most  learned 
and  judicious  of  themselves  have  bewailed  their  misery  for 
want  of  bishops.  And  therefore  God  forbid  that  I  should 
be  so  uncharitable  as  to  condemn  them  for  no  churches  for 
that  which  is  their  infelicity,  not  their  fault.  But  as  for 
our  perverse  Protestants  at  home,  I  cannot  say  the  same  of 
them,  seeing  they  impiously  reject  that  which  the  other 
piously  desire.' 4  Dean  Granville  and  Archdeacon  Basire 
naturally  followed  the  lead  of  Bishop  Cosin.  '  I  would 
not,'  writes  the  former,  '  unchurch  the  Foreign  Protestants. 
They  must  conform  with  us  here,  and  I  with  them  there ; ' 5 
while  the  latter  enters  more  at  length  into  his  reasons  for 

1  See  Remains  of  Dean  Granville,  Part  II.,  p.  37. 

2  See  Bishop  Cosin  his  opinion,  when  Dean  of  Peterborough  and  in 
exile,  for  communicating  rather  with  Geneva  than  with  Rome  d~c.,  in  tivo 
Letters,  1684. 

3  See  The  State  of  us  that  adhere  to  the  Church  of  England,  by  John 
Cosin,  Bishop  of  Purham.    Also  his  letter  to  Dr.  Richard  Watson  in  Bishop 
Cosin's  Works,  vol.  iv.  (Lib.  of  Angl.-Cath.  Theol.),  p.  386  &c. 

4  Quoted  in  Lathbury's  History  of  Convocation,  p,  293. 

5  See  Granville's  Remains,  Part  II.,  p.  36  &c. 


35O        LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660-1714 

'  a  moderate  connivance  at  inordinate  ordinations.' j  Arch 
bishop  Bramhall  indignantly  denies  that  '  all  or  any  con 
siderable  part  of  episcopal  divines  in  England  do  unchurch 
either  all  or  the  most  part  of  the  Protestant  Churches,'  and 
elucidates  the  whole  matter  in  his  own  powerful  style.2 
John  Scott,  in  his  '  Christian  Life,'  clearly  explains  that 
'  whenever  the  Divine  Providence  doth  by  unavoidable  ne 
cessity  deprive  any  Church  of  its  episcopacy,  it  thereby, 
and  for  the  present  at  least,  and  whilst  the  necessity  con 
tinues,  releases  it  from  the  obligation  of  the  institution  of 
episcopacy ;  and  therefore  so  long  as  it  doth  not  renounce 
episcopacy,  but  still  continues  in  communion  with  other 
churches  that  enjoy  it,  it  ought  to  be  looked  upon  and 
communicated  with  as  a  true  member  (though  a  maimed 
one)  of  the  church  catholic ; '  and  then  he  contrasts  this 
case  with  that  of  those  who  wilfully  separate  themselves.3 
And  Bancroft,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Covel,  chaplain  to  the 
Prince  of  Orange  at  the  Hague  (1678)  declares  that  he  will 
never  abandon  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  an  union  with  Foreign 
Protestants.4  The  above,  it  will  be  observed,  were  all  high 
churchmen ;  the  low  churchmen,  of  course,  found  no  diffi 
culty  about  the  matter. 

The  sentiments  in  favour  of  foreign  Protestants  found  a 
very  practical  expression  in  1685,  when  the  Revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes  flooded  England  with  French  Pro 
testant  refugees.  The  extraordinary  sympathy  which  was 
shewn  with  these  poor  sufferers  has  already  been  de 
scribed  ;  and  here,  again,  none  were  more  active  than  the 
high  churchmen.  Bishop  Ken  gave  them  a  fine  of  4,000/., 

1  See  The  Dead  Man's  Speech  &c. 

2  See  Bishop  BramhalVs    Vindication  of  himself  and  the   Episcopal 
Clergy  from  the  Presbyterian  charge  of  Popery  by  Baxter \  in  his  Treatise  of 
the  Grotian  Religion  d~c.,  1672.      Baxter  was  one  of  those  good  men  who 
never  know  when  they  are  beaten  ;  otherwise  this  extraordinarily  powerful 
work  would  have  crushed  his  not  very  powerful  adversary. 

8  Christian  Life,  iii.  pp.  312-3. 

1  Letter  quoted  in  Moles  worth's  History  of  the  Church  of  England^ 
p.  123. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    OTHER    RELIGIOUS    BODIES       35! 

which  happened  to  fall  in  at  the  time ;  boldly  preached  in 
their  behalf  at  the  Chapel  Eoyal  before  James  II.,  who  of 
course  had  no  real  sympathy  with  them,  though  he  was 
forced  to  receive  them  favourably  ;  and  wrote  to  his  clergy 
a  touching  appeal  'to  be  brotherly  kind  to  strangers,  to 
Christian  strangers,  whose  distress  is  very  great,  and  is 
in  all  respects  worthy  of  our  tenderest  commiseration.'  ' 
Turner,  Bishop  of  Ely,  high  churchman  though  he  was, 
actually  provided  for  the  refugees  a  chapel  at  Thorney 
Abbey,  where  they  might  worship  without  conforming  to 
the  Church  of  England ;  '2  and  Lloyd,  Bishop  of  S.  Asaph, 
undertook,  so  long  as  he  held  the  see,  to  allow  a  French 
Protestant  20Z.  a  year  and  his  board.3 

It  was,  however,  not  unnatural  that  in  time  churchmen 
began  to  feel  that  the  refugees,  by  their  settlement  in 
England,  virtually  swelled  the  ranks  of  nonconformists, 
and  hence  the  learned  Bingham  addressed  to  them  a  charac 
teristically  exhaustive  argument  in  favour  of  their  joining 
the  Church  of  England.4 

The  French  refugees,  having  thriven  so  well,  were  fol 
lowed  a  quarter  of  a  century  later  by  a  swarm  of  '  poor 
Palatinates  ;  '  the  sympathy  in  behalf  of  the  latter,  however, 
was  by  no  means  so  unanimous,  and  an  outcry  arose  that 
the  influx  of  so  many  foreigners  (chiefly  Lutherans),  would 
endanger  the  Church  of  England.5  Still,  on  the  whole, 
the  feeling  in  favour  of  foreign  Protestants  was  a  marked 
feature  of  the  whole  of  our  period. 

The  relation  of  the  Church  to  Romanists,  whether  at 
home  or  abroad,  may  be  very  briefly  described.  It  was 
from  first  to  last,  and  from  the  highest  of  high  churchmen 
to  the  most  latitudinarian  of  low,  one  of  deep,  uncompro- 

1  Ken's  Prose  Works  (Bound's  edition),  p.  484. 

9  See  Miss  Strickland's  Seven  Bishops  :  '  Turner,'          3  Ibid. :  '  Lloyd.' 

4  A  serious  Address  to  the  Refugees  of  the  French  Church  to  join  in 
constant  and  full  Communion  with  the  Church  of  England.     (Bingham's 
Works,  vol.  ix.) 

5  See  Earl  Stanhope's  Reign  of  Queen  Anne,  p.  209. 


35-         LIFE    IN    THE    ENGLISH    CHURCH,    1660    1714 

raising  hostility.  In  the  reign  of  James  II.,  when  the  most 
systematic  and  not  altogether  unsuccessful  efforts  were  made 
to  bring  men  over  'to  the  king's  religion,  it  is  computed 
that  for  every  one  that  was  lost  to  the  Church  through 
Eomanism,  ten  were  gained  from  the  ranks  of  noncon 
formists  who  appreciated  the  zeal  of  the  clergy  against 
popery.  And  by  none  was  Eome  more  heartily  opposed 
than  by  high  churchmen  generally  and  nonjurors  in  parti 
cular.  Collier,  Leslie,  Hickes,  Ken,  Brett,  Turner,  Bancroft, 
Fell,  Nelson,  and  countless  other  names  of  high  churchmen, 
appear  in  print  as  strong  anti-Eomanists.  Perhaps  the 
most  powerful  body  of  anti-Eoman  literature  that  has  ever 
been  published,  is  that  which  was  written  by  divines  of  the 
Church  of  England  during  this  period,  and  afterwards 
collected  by  Bishop  Gibson  for  his  valuable  '  Preservative 
against  Popery.'  The  few  converts  who  were  won  over  to 
Eomanism  were  so  feeble  and  for  the  most  part  so  obviously 
led  by  other  motives  than  those  of  conviction,  that  they  are 
scarcely  worthy  even  of  being  termed  exceptions  that  proved 
the  rule.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  there  were  periodical  and 
utterly  unreasonable  panics  during  which  the  clergy  were 
suspected  of  Eomanising,  notably  in  1673  when  the  Test 
Act  was  passed,  in  1678  when  the  infamous  Gates  Plot  was 
at  its  height,  and  in  1680  wrhen  the  bishops  very  properly 
voted  against  the  Exclusion  Bill ;  l  but  the  suspicion  was 
never  seriously  entertained  for  any  length  of  time. 

In  fact,  all  through  our  period  the  danger  lay  quite  in 
another  direction  ;  Eomanists  were  cruelly  persecuted,  and 
most  of  all  when  latitudinarianism  was  in  the  ascendant.2 

1  '  They  tore  out,'  it  was  said, '  the  very  bowels  of  the  Church  of  England.' 
A  lampoon  entitled  The  Bishops  and  the  Bill  was  very  popular.  Each 
verse  ended,  '  The  bishops,  the  bishops,  they  threw  out  the  bill,'  and  the 
last,  '  To  throw  out  the  bishops  who  threw  out  the  bill.' 

•  '  After  the  Revolution,'  writes  Lord  Campbell  (Lives  of  the  Chancellors, 
vol.  iv.),  '  the  penal  code  against  Eomanists  was  made  far  more  severe  and 
revolting  than  it  had  ever  been  under  Elizabeth  or  any  of  the  four  kings  of 
the  Stuart  line.'  The  excellent  Lord  Somers,  a  Whig  and  a  latitudinarian, 
in  Church  affairs,  was  largely  responsible  for  these  laws. 


THE   CHURCH    AND    OTHER   RELIGIOUS    BODIES       353 

The  same  excuse,  indeed,  may  be  made  as  was  made  for  the 
persecution  of  nonconformists,  viz.  that  political  causes 
contributed  far  more  than  theological  to  bring  about  the 
harsh  treatment  of  Romanists,  but  the  fact  remains  that 
persecution  of,  not  toying  with  Eome,  was  a  blot  of  the 
period. 

There  is  yet  another  Church  whose  chequered  fortunes 
stirred  up  a  deep  interest  in  the  breasts  of  English  church 
men.  At  no  part  of  our  period  was  the  Episcopal  Church 
of  Scotland  in  a  satisfactory  state.  After  having  been 
cruelly  persecuted  during  the  Rebellion,  it  was  re-estab 
lished  under  Charles  II.  on  a  radically  wrong  basis,  and 
cruel  persecutions  were  instituted,  rather  in  its  name  and 
on  its  professed  behalf,  than  by  the  Church  itself.  The 
political  element  was  at  this  time  too  strong  in  the  Church 
of  England,  but  it  was  far  stronger  in  that  of  Scotland. 
The  bishops  who  were  forced  upon  Scotland  (always  except 
ing  the  saintly  Leighton),  were  not  churchmen  at  all  in  the 
spiritual  sense  of  the  term,  while  the  chief  instrument  in 
the  persecution,  Lauderdale,  was  not  a  churchman  even  in 
name.  When  the  turn  of  the  wheel  brought  the  Presby 
terians  again  into  power  after  the  Revolution,  the  Episcopal 
clergy  were  cruelly  used,  and  the  sympathy  of  their  English 
brethren  was  strongly  awakened  in  their  behalf.  The 
'  rabbled '  ministers  gratefully  acknowledged  that  many  of 
them  were  saved  by  the  charity  of  their  English  brethren 
from  actual  starvation ;  and  when  Anne  succeeded  William, 
it  was  through  the  intervention  of  English  churchmen, 
especially  Archbishop  Sharp,  who  used  his  great  influence 
with  the  queen,  and  almost  insisted  upon  her  taking  the 
matter  up,1  that,  the  persecution  by  very  slow  degrees 
abated.  William  III.  could  hardly  be  expected  to  give 

1  '  He  spoke  earnestly  to  the  Queen  about  the  Episcopal  clergy  in 
Scotland,  and  charged  her  again  upon  her  conscience  (when  she  made  some 
excuses)  with  some  warmth  to  take  care  to  put  a  stop  to  these  persecutions. 
She  said  she  would.'  This  was  in  1708.  (Life  of  Archbishop  Sharp,  by 
his  son,  vol.  ii.) 

A  A 


354      LIFE  IN  TIIE  ENGLISH  CHURCH,  1660-1714 

much  power  or  privilege  to  the  Scotch  Church,  for  the  clergy 
were  Jacobites  almost  to  a  man ;  but  this  does  not  in 
the  least  account  for  its  persecution  by  Presbyterians,  who 
made  no  secret  of  the  fact  that  their  object  was  to  destroy 
Prelacy,  root  and  branch.  Sympathy  with  their  distressed 
brethren  across  the  Tweed  was  of  course  felt  most  keenly 
by  nonjurors  such  as  Ken  and  Nelson,  but  even  low 
churchmen,  like  Burnet,  were  not  insensible  to  their  suffer 
ings.  A  large  consignment  of  Bibles  and  Prayer  Books, 
chiefly,  it  would  seem,  at  the  instance  of  Robert  Nelson, 
was  sent,  both  as  a  practical  aid  and  as  a  token  of  inter 
communion.  The  political  question  does  not  appear  to 
have  had  much  to  do  with  the  sympathy  of  the  English 
with  the  Scotch  Church  ;  it  was  the  generous  sympathy  of 
a  prosperous  with  a  distressed  sister,  with  whom  she  was 
in  the  fullest  terms  of  communion ;  for  there  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  the  slightest  trace  of  any  doubt  about 
the  English  and  the  Scotch  Churches  being  bound  closely 
together  all  through  our  period. 

The  relationship  between  the  English  and  the  Irish 
Churches  need  not  be  dwelt  upon.  They  were  in  fact  one, 
*  the  United  Church  of  England  and  Ireland.'  Several  great 
names  form  connecting  links  between  the  two  branches, — 
John  Bramhall,  Jeremy  Taylor,  George  Rust,  Charles 
Leslie,  Jonathan  Swift,  and  others  among  the  clergy, 
Robert  Boyle  and  James  Bonnell  among  the  laity.  The 
harmony  between  the  two  bodies  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  ever  interrupted  ;  but  there  are  no  traces  of  that 
warm  sympathy — circumstances  did  not  occur  to  bring  it 
out — which,  as  we  have  seen,  existed  between  England  and 
Scotland. 

In  conclusion  the  reader  must  be  reminded  that  this 
only  professes  to  be  a  sketch  of  certain  phases  of  Church 
life.  Had  it  professed  to  be  a  complete  history  of  Church 
life,  much  would  of  course  have  had  to  be  said  upon  matters 
which  are  here  touched  upon  very  lightly  or  not  at  all. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    OTHER    RELIGIOUS    BODIES       355 

The  work  of  Convocation,  for  instance,  the  schemes  of  com 
prehension,  the  political  acts  in  which  the  Church  was 
concerned,  the  controversial  writings  of  the  time,  are  all 
parts  of  Church  life  in  its  broadest  sense,  but  not  in  the 
narrower  sense  in  which  the  term  is  used  here.  But  even 
of  what  the  work  professed  to  do  the  performance  is  woe 
fully  imperfect.  Perhaps,  however,  it  may  stimulate  some 
other  literary  workman  to  explore  the  same  mine  ;  such  an 
one  will  find  a  rich  vein  of  ore  which  will  amply  repay  his 
toil. 


A  A   2 


LIST  OF  AUTHOEITIES  QUOTED 
OE  KEFEKKED  TO. 


No  autlwr  is  included  who  has  been  quoted  at  second  Jmnd.  The  dates  of 
the  editions  used  have  been  given  for  the  convenience  of  tJwse  who 
desire  to  verify  the  quotations, 

ACCOUNT  of  the  Societies  for  Eeformation  of  Manners,  (Defoe)  1699 
Addison,  Joseph,  Life  of,  by  Lucy  Aikin,  2  vols.  1843 

„  „       Evidences  of  Christianity,  about  1715 

Addison,  Lancelot,  Primitive  Institution,  &c.  1674 

„  „  Christian's  Manual,  5th  ed.  1700 

Advice  to  Clergy  of  Diocese  of  Lincoln,  by  Bishop  Gardiner,  2nd  ed. 

1697 

Advice  to  the  Clergy  in  six  Sermons,  by  J.  Cock,  1664-88 
Allestree,  Dr.  E.,  Life  of,  by  Bp.  Fell,  new  ed.  1848 
Amusements  of  Clergymen  and  Christians  in  general,  new  ed.  1820 
Anderson,  J.  S.  M.,  History  of  the  Colonial  Church,  3  vols.  1856 
Anglias  Notitise,  E.  and  J.  Chamberlayne,  16th  ed.  1687 
Animadversions  on  '  The  Naked  Truth,'  1676 
Anniversary  Sermons  preached  before  S.  P.  G.  1845 
Answer  to  Grounds,  &c.,  for  Contempt  of  Clergy  (B.  Oley  ?),  1671 
Apology  of  author  of  '  Asses  complaint  against  Balaam  ' 
Art  of  Contentment,  by  Lady  Pakington  (?)  Ed.  W.  Pridden,  1841 
Ashmole,  Elias,  Memoirs  of,  &c.,  by  way  of  Diary,  1717 
Asses  complaint  against  Balaam,  L.  Griffin,  1663 
Astell,  Mary,  The  Christian  Eeligion  as  professed  by  a  Daughter  of  the 

Church  of  England,  1705 
„         „         Serious  Proposal  to  Ladies,  1694 
,,         ,,         Letters  concerning  the  Love  of  God.     Pub.  by  J.  Norris, 

2nd  ed.  1705 

Athenae  Cantabrigienses,  from  Cole  MSS.  in  British  Museum 
Athenae  Oxonienses,  Anthony  a  Wood,  new  ed.  Bliss,  1813 
Athenian  Oracle,  1706 


LIST    OF    AUTHORITIES 

Atterbury,Bp.,  Memoirs  and  Correspondence  of,  G.  Folkestone  Williams, 
2  vols.  1869 

,,         „       Life  by  Stackhouse 
„        „       Sermons,  3  vols.  8th  ed.  1766 


BABINGTON,  Eev.  Churchill,  Character  of  Clergy  in  latter  part  of  17th 

century,  1849 

Bagehot,  W.,  Biographical  Studies,  ed.  E.  H.  Hutton,  1881 
Baker,  T.,  Memoirs  of  life  and  writings,  from  Papers  of  Z.  Grey,  1784 

„  „  Reflections  upon  Learning,  6th  ed.  1727 
Ballard,  George,  Memoirs  of  British  Ladies,  1775 
Barlow,  Bp.  T.,  Cases  of  Conscience  resolved,  1692 

,,  ,,          Genuine  Remains  of,  1693 

Barnes,  Ambrose,  Memoirs  of,  Surtees  Soc.  1867 
Barrow,  Dr.  Isaac,  Works,  with  Life  by  Whewell,  ed.  Napier,  1859 
Barwick,  Vita  Joannis,  by  P.  Barwick. — 

„  „     Translation  with  notes  (by  Hilkiah  Bedford  ?)  1724 

Basire,  Dr.  Isaac,  Correspondence  of,  ed.  Darnell,  1831 
Bathurst,  Dean  Ralph,  Life  and  Literary  Remains  of  (T.  Warton) 
Beveridge,  Bp.  Life  of,  prefixed  to  Private  Thoughts,  ed.  of  1825 

„  „     Life  pref.  to  ed.  of  Works  by  C.  Bradley,  1828 

„  „     Private  Thoughts,  vol.  viii.  of  Works,  Lib.  Angl.  Cath. 

Theol. 

„  „     Theol.  Works.,  Lib.  Angl.  Cath.  Theol.  1842 

„  „     Defence  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins'  Book  of  Psalms. 

„  „     Sermons   on   Ministry  and  Ordinances  of  Church  of 

England,  new  ed.  1837 

Bingham,  Jos.,  Works,  in  9  vols.  with  Life  prefixed,  1840 
Bonnell,  James,   Life   and  Character  of,  by  Archdeacon  Hamilton, 

1707 

Boyer's  Annals  of  the  Reign  of  Queen  Anne,  2  vols. 
Boyle,  Hon.  R.,  Birch's  Life  of,  1744 
Bramhall,  Abp.,  Vindication  &c.,  from  the  charge  of  Popery,  1672 

„  „       True  Notion  of  the  Worship  of  God,  1673 

Bray,  Dr.  Thomas,  Essay  towards  promoting  all  necessary  and  useful 

knowledge,  1697 

„       „     Bibliotheca  Catechetica,  1702 
„       „     Bibliotheca  Parochialis,  1697 

„       „     Public  Spirit  illustrated  in  the  Life  and  Designs  of,  1746 
Brewer,  J.  S.  A.,  English  Studies,  1881 

Brief  Account  of  the  New  Sect  of  Latitudinarians,  by  S.  P.  1669 
Brokesby,  F.,  Life  of  Mr.  Henry  Dodwell,  1715 
Brown,  Works  of  Mr.  Thomas,  3  vols.  9th  ed.  1760 
Bull,  Bp.,  Works,  ed.  1846.  esp.  Charge  to  clergy  of  S.  David's,  in  1708 


LIST    OF    AUTHORITIES  359 

Bull,  Bp.,  Life  by  E.  Nelson,  Oxford  ed.  1845 

Bui-net,  Bp.,  History  of  my  own  Times,  in  4  vols.  1815 

„    Lives  of  Sir  M.  Hale,  Earl  of  Eochester  &c.  new  ed.  1829 
„     Four  discourses  delivered  to  clergy  of  Saruni,  1694 
„          „     Discourse  of  Pastoral  Care,  1692 

„     Four  Sermons  by,  (preached  before  the  King  &c.) 
„          „     Lives,  Characters,  &o.  and  an  Address  to  Posterity,  ed.  Bp. 
Jebb,  2nd  ed.  1853 

„     Visitation  Charges,  1704,  1708,  1714 
„          „    Elizabeth,  Methods  of  Devotion,  with  Life  by  T.  Goodwyn, 

2nd  ed.  1709 
Burton,  Jas.  Hill,  History  of  the  Eeign  of  Queen  Anne,  1880 

CALAMY,  Edmund,  Account  of  my  own  Life,  2  vols.  2nd  ed.  1830 

„  „  Account  of  Ejected  Ministers,  2nd  ed.  1710 

Campbell,  Lord,  Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancellors,  vol.  iii.  1845 
Carstares,  William,  —  Storey,  1674 

Cartwright,  T.,  Bishop  of  Chester,  Diary  of,  Camden  Soc.  1843 
Carwithen,  J.  B.  S.,  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  1833 
Causes  of  Decay  of  Christian  Piety,  ed.  of  1765 
Cave,  Dr.  Wm.,  Primitive  Christianity 
Cawdrey,  Zachary,  Discourse  of  Patronage,  1675 
Chaplains'  Petition  to  the  Hon.  House  for  redress  of  grievances,  1693 
Character  of  England  in  1659,  (John  Evelyn) 
Chichester,  Life  of  John  (Lake),  Bishop  of,  1690 
Christian  Monitor  (Eawlet's),  25th  ed.  1699 
Clarke,  Dr.  Adam,  Memoirs  of  the  "Wesley  Family,  1823 
Clergyman's  Vade  Mecum,  3rd  ed.  1709 

„  Advocate,  Account  of  Ill-treatment  of  Church  and  Clergy, 

1711 

Coleridge,  S.  T.,  Notes  on  English  Divines,  1853 

Collectanea  Curiosa  from  MSS.  of  Abp.  Bancroft  (Tanner  MSS.),  1781 
Collier,  Jeremy,  Ecclesiastical  History  in  9  vols.,  vol.  viii.  1841 
„  „         Essays  upon  Moral  Subjects,  7th  ed.  1732 

Life  of,  by  F.  Barham,  Pref.  to  Eccl.  Hist.  1840 
„  „         Short  Account  of  the  Profaneness  and  Immorality  of 

the  Stage,  1730 
Comber,  Dean  Thomas,  Companion  to  the  Temple  and  Closet,  1673 

„  „         Discourse  concerning  Excommunication 

Compton,  Life  of  Bishop,  (undated) 

„         Episcopalia,  Letters  to  clergy  of  London  diocese,  1683  &c. 
Correspondence  of  Henry,  Earl  of  Clarendon,  and  Lawrence,  Earl  of 

Eochester,  ed.  Singe,  1828 
Cosin,  Bishop,  Correspondence  of,  Surtees  Soc.,  1872 


360  LIST   OF   AUTHORITIES 

Cosin,  Bishop,  State  of  us  that  adhere  to  Church  of  England 
»,          H        Works  of,  vol.  iv.,  Lib.  Angl.  Cath.  Theol.  1851 
Cradock,  Zachary,  25  Sermons  preached  before  King  Charles  II.  1742 


DARTMOUTH,  Lord,  Notes  on  Burnet's  '  Own  Times ' 

Dawes,  Sir  W.,  Abp.  of  York,  Whole  Works  of,  with  Life  of  Author, 

1733 
'  Dead  Man's  Eeal  Speech,'  Funeral  Sermon  on  Bishop  Cosin,  with  a 

Brief  of  his  life  by  I.  Basire,  1672 
Debary,  T.,  History  of  the   Church  of  England  from  accession  of 

James  II.  to  1717,  1860 
Defence  of  Pluralities  as  now  practised  in  the  Church  of  England 

(H.  Wharton),  2nd  ed.  1703 

Devotions  in  the  Ancient  Way  of  Offices,  2nd  ed.  1701 
Discourse  of  profiting  by  Sermons,  1683 
Disney,  J.,  Essay  on  execution  of  Laws  against  Immorality,  2nd  ed. 

1710 
Dodwell,  H.,  Treatise  concerning  Instrumental  Music  in  Churches,  2nd 

ed.  1700 

„        „    Letter  of  Advice  for  the  susception  of  Holy  Orders,  2nd 

ed.  1680 

Dolben,  Archbisbop,  Sermons  of 
Dunton,  John,  Life  and  Errors  of,  1818 
Duppa,  Bishop  Brian,  Holy  Kules  and  Helps  to  Devotion,  2nd  ed.  1818 


EACHARD,  John,  Works  of,  in  3  vols.  1774 

Earle,  Bishop,  Microcosmography,  new  ed.  P.  Bliss,  1811 

Echard,  Lawrence,  History  of  the  Eevolution,  &c.  1725 

Edwards,  W.  E.,   Sermon  before  the  Grateful  Society  (on  Colston), 

1783 

Ellis's  Original  Letters,  2nd  series,  1837 

English  Poets  from  Chaucer  to  Cowper,  Chalmers,  vol.  viii.  1810 
Episcopalia,  or  Letters  of  Henry  (Compton),  Bishop  of  London,  to 

clergy,  1686 

Essay  concerning  Preaching  (Glanvill  of  Bath  ?),  1678 
Essay  on  the  Great  Affinity  of  the  two  Professions  of  Law  and  Divinity, 

1714 
Evelyn,  John,  Diary,  5  vols.  1827 


FOULIS,  H.,  History  of  the  Plots  and  Conspiracies  of  our  pretended 

Saints,  1662 
Fowler,  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  Visitation  Charge,  1707 


LIST    OF   AUTHORITIES  361 

Fox,  C.  J.,  History  of  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  James  II.,  1808 
Frampton,  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  Life,  ed.  by  T.  Simpson,  1876 
Fuller's  Worthies,  Nichol's  ed.  in  2  vols.  1811 


GENTLEMAN'S  Calling,  ed.  of  1765 

Gladstone,  Rt.  Hon.  W.  E.,  on  Macaulay,  Gleanings,  vol.  ii. 

Godolphin,  Mrs.,  Life  of,  hy  J.  Evelyn,  pub.  by  Bishop  of  Oxford,  1847 

Government  of  the  Tongue,  by  author  of  Whole  Duty  of  Man 

Granger,  J.,  Biographical  History  of  England,  vol.  iii.  1804 

Granville,  Dean,  Remains  of,  2  vols.  Surtees  Soc.,  1865 

Grey,   Zachary,   and   Maddox,   Examination    of   Neal's    History    of 

Puritans,  1737 
Gunning,  Bishop  P.,  The  Paschal  or  Lent  Feast,  Lib.  Angl.  Cath.  Theol. 

1845 

HACKET,  Bishop,  Memoirs  of  Life  of  Archbishop  Williams,  1715 
„  „         Articles  of  Enquiry  at  Visitation  of  1668 

„  .,         Christian  Consolations,   New    ed.   with    account   of 

Author,  1840 

„  „        Life   and  Death  of,  T.   Plume,   ed.   by   Mackenzie 

Walcott,  1865 

Haddan,  A.  W.,. Remains,  ed.  by  Bishop  Forbes,  1876 

Hallam's  Constitutional  History,  3  vols.  1854 
„         Literature  of  Europe,  3  vols.  1843 

Hammond,  Henry,  Practical  Catechism,  with   Life  of  Author,  Lib. 
Angl.  Cath.  Theol.  1847 

Happy  Ascetick,  by  Dr.  Horneck,  1681 

Hastings,  Lady  Elizabeth,  Historical  Character  of,  by  T.  Barnard,  1742 

Hawkins,  E.,  Historical  Notices  of  Missions  &c.,  1845 

Heariie,  Life  of  Mr.  Thos.  from  his  own  MS.  copy  in  Bodleian,  1772 

Henry,  Philip,  Diary,  ed.  by  M.  H.  Lee,  1882 

Herbert,  George,  Priest  to  the  Temple,  with  Pref.  by  B.  Oley,  1675 

Hey  wood,  Oliver,  Hunter's  Life  of,  1842 

Hickes,  Dean  G.,  Posthumous  Discourses,  pub.  by  N.  Spinckes,  1726 
„         „       „  Apologetical  Vindication  of  Church  of  England,  1686 
„         „       „  Constitution  of  the  Catholic  Church,  1716 
„         „       „  Letters  with  a  Popish  Priest,  2nd  ed.  1715 

Higgons,  Bevil,  Remarks  on  Burnet's  Own  Times,  Works,  vol.  ii.  1736 

Histoire  de  la  Revolution  de  1'Angleterre  par  M.  Guizot,  1841 

History  of  England  continued  from  Sir  J.  Mackintosh,  Cab.  Cycl.  1836 

History  of  England  under  House  of  Stuart,  Soc.  Dif.  Useful  Know 
ledge,  1840